In love with an Uchiha
by butterfliesofpurgatory
Summary: Sakura Haruno, 18 year old Anbu medic is wanted by the Akatsuki. After being captured she soon learns that she was missing something from her life and she has finally found it at the Akatsuki in the form of Uchiha Itachi. Being revised
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

They were running rapidly, jumping from branch to branch through one of the few forests located in Grass Country, trying to keep up with their target. Team Kakashi was currently on an S-Rank mission to bring missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke, back to Konoha. A mission they had been assigned many weeks earlier. It had taken some time, but they had eventually located their old teammate in a small village of Grass Country. Up to this point Sasuke had been labeled as a missing-nin, but time was running out and if they didn't get him back to Konoha soon Tsunade was going to stop all missions regarding the youngest Uchiha.

At 18, Naruto and Sakura had both grown into strong shinobi, worthy of their rank as Anbu Black Ops. Sakura ,being a famous med-nin, known throughout the five shinobi countries, was said to have surpassed her shishou in the medical field, while Naruto had long surpassed his teacher, legendary Sannin Jiraya. In the five years since Sasuke had left, they had both grown to realize what the real life of a shinobi was. It had been a hard lesson to learn, that sometimes you had no choice but to kill or be killed.

The two shinobi had surpassed their genin sensei, Kakashi, in power long ago but still looked up to him as the team leader due to his years of experience. Sai, Sasuke's replacement, had joined their team when they were both about sixteen. He turned out to be a valuable asset who contributed to the teams' power with his calm thinking and ink jutsu. Team Kakashi, known as the best Anbu team in Konoha, was now catching up with the Uchiha, but little did they know that their mission was soon to fail.

They had been chasing him for hours when he finally stopped.

"Uchiha Sasuke, under orders of the Fifth Hokage we are to take you into custody and bring you back to Konoha." Kakashi stated as they all came to a stop several feet away from the missing-nin.

The Uchiha turned so he was facing his former comrades,"How many times must I tell you fools that I am not coming back? I still have goals to achieve and I will not be returning until I fulfill those goals."

"Sasuke! You teme! I will drag you back home whether you like it or not! Stop being such an idiot! You can get stronger in Konoha and we can all help you to take that bastard down!" Naruto yelled.

The Uchiha sighed, "This is my path. I must do this alone. You cannot follow."

"Sasuke-kun, please just come home. You can't do it alone...We will not give up on you and will keep chasing you until you come to your senses and return home."

"Hmph. As if you could help me. You would only be a burden. Konoha never should have allowed you to become a shinobi in the first place. You are too weak, too emotional."

Anyone could see the hurt look that crossed Sakura's face at the last comment. _why do you say these things Sasuke! What happened to make you so cruel?_

Naruto was trembling in anger, "SASUKE! You don't know what you are talking about! Sakura's one of the strongest people I know! She's worked so hard, becoming stronger so she could help bring you back! Don't you see how much she cares about you!"

Kakashi decided to intervene before Naruto did something stupid, like attacking Sasuke without thinking,"Naruto! Calm down! Sasuke! You say that Sakura is weak because she is driven by her emotions, but are you not also acting on your emotions! You are a complete hypocrite! Your journey on the path of revenge is built by your hate for Itachi, the brother who betrayed you! Hate is an emotion Sasuke! This hate will consume you Sasuke. You have people who care about you and are willing to help-"

"Why can't you understand! I have to do this on my own! I will not hesistate to kill you if you get in my way!" he yelled, activating his sharingan.

Sai had been silent throughout the whole exchange trying to understand why these people were trying so hard to retrieve someone who didn't want to be retrieved. Any idiot could tell that the Uchiha would not be swayed.

"Fine. We will just have to bring you back by force, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled slamming a chakra enhanced fist into the ground. The earth crumbled underneath their feet, toppling a few trees, leaving only a crater in it's wake. Sasuke's eyes widened after witnessing his old teammate's power, but did not let the attack distract him. He quickly gained control of the situation and started to go into the offensive.

Charging towards Naruto with his sword drawn he attempted to plunge his kusanagi into the Kyuubi boys stomach only to be stopped by said shinobi's kunai.

* * *

While locked into their battle, an unknown figure sat, shrouded in the darkness of the trees, watching as the Kyuubi container and his little brother tried to gain the upper hand on the other.

The voice of his partner interrupted his observation of the battle, "Itachi, do you think we should intervene? We don't want your idiot brother to kill the Kyuubi. Leader would be upset."

"Hn."

The shark man sighed. _What the hell does he mean by 'hn'? 'Hn' isn't even a real word. Annoying brat._

Itachi finally answered in an understandable language, "For now we will only watch. We will only make our presence known if the Kyuubi is in danger of dying."

"Fine, fine."

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had just broken apart planning attack once again when Sakura appeared behind the Uchiha, delivering a chakra enhanced kick that sent him through a good number of trees.

* * *

"Go kunoichi! Kick his ass! Oh that's a shame. He used Substitution."

Itachi's eyebrow was twitching. "Kisame. Shut- up."

"What? I'm just trying to enjoy the entertainment! It's boring not being able to take part in any of the action!"

* * *

_Damn it he used Substitution. Where did he-_

Sakura's thoughts were interrupted when she sensed a presence behind her. She was able to block a foot with her arm just in time, staggering backwards as the unidentified person jumped away. When she looked up she saw a kunoichi with red hair and eyes wearing a pair of glasses.

"Don't touch my Sasuke-kun, bitch!"

"Who the fuck do you think you are, slut!" Sakura retaliated.

"I am not a slut! I'm Karin. Sasuke-kun's girlfriend" the kunoichi stated in a arrogant this-is-an-obvious-fact-of-the-world tone of voice.

"More like a prostitute." Sakura retorted

All the men in the vicinity, including the two Akatsuki members hiding in the trees, sweat-dropped.

"Sakura-chan..." _This is worse than her fights with Ino_. Naruto shivered.

"How dare you! You are just jealous that Sasuke-kun chose me instead of you! It's quite obvious as to why. I mean who would pick a completely shapeless girl with pink hair over a real woman like me!" Karin screeched.

"That's it! I'll show you what I'm made of!" Sakura yelled

"That red haired girl is so gonna die" Naruto stated

"Kami, shut up four-eyes! Your screeching is making my ears bleed! Sasuke wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole, let alone make you his girlfriend. Besides...even you would look shapeless in those ugly clothes." Another shinobi walked out from behind a tree. He had strange features, with white hair and purple eyes, carrying a weapon that appeared to be Zabuza's sword across his back.

"Suigetsu, you bastard!" Karin screeched.

"I really don't know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment." Sakura sweat-dropped.

"Interesting sword you got there..." Kakashi interjected looking towards the man called Suigetsu.

"Ah,yes, I do believe you were the one who killed the previous owner."

"Enough chit-chat. I'm teaching this slut a lesson." Sakura stated, cracking her knuckles.

* * *

"oooooh! Cat-fight!" Kisame whooped.

"_Kisame_."

"Right." he replied, not wanting to push the Uchiha's temper any further.

* * *

"Sasuke! Get your ass out here!" Naruto yelled.

"I've been here the whole time, dumb-ass." Sasuke said walking out of the trees.

"Sasuke-kun! I noticed two more chakra signatures here. They are not signatures that I can identify."

"Where?"

"12 o'clock."

"Well, I guess we're not as good at hide-and-seek as we thought" Kisame sighed.

"You seem to have some chakra tracking abilities." Itachi stated landing gracefully on the ground.

"Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu! take care of those four!" Sasuke ordered before charging towards Itachi

Naruto blocked Sasuke's path, "Get out of the way, Naruto!"

"No."

"I told you I would kill you if you got in my way!"

* * *

The Akatsuki members watched as the others broke out into fights.

"Alright you pink-haired bitch, bring it on"

"…" Sakura didn't even bother to answer and instead decided to finish with the kunoichi quickly. She disappeared.

"What? Where did that whore go?" Karin froze when she felt a presence close behind her.

"Right here." Sakura whispered. She swiftly knocked Karin out with a hit to the right pressure point and proceeded on to the next battle, finding that Naruto was having trouble with Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan, stay back. I'm fine."

"Naruto, we said that we would do this together!"

"I don't want you getting hurt."

"I-" she sighed dejectedly while she could only sit back and watch everyone else fight.

Sai made quick work of Suigetsu, finishing only about two minutes after Sakura. Luckily, he only had minor wounds and let Sakura heal him to perfection. Meanwhile, Kakashi was able to immobilize Juugo, but with some difficulty as the shinobi had been in his curse seal form. While he didn't have any serious injuries, Kakashi had overused his sharingan and soon lost consciousness. Sakura looked over him quickly before ordering Sai to take him back to Konoha and give Tsunade a message about what was going on.

Naruto was losing badly. While he was severely injured, Sasuke only had minor cuts and bruises. Obviously, the younger Uchiha had gotten much more powerful under the tutelage of the Snake Sannin.

"It is time for this to end. I don't have the time to waste with you."

* * *

"Itachi I think we need to stop this."

"..."

* * *

Sasuke started to activate his signature move, Chidori Nagarashi. Running at Naruto, Sasuke disappeared from sight only to reappear right behind the blonde moments before running him through with his kusanagi.

"Pathetic"

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed running towards where Naruto had fallen. She was so worried about her best friend and teammate that she didn't notice Sasuke coming straight for her. She was soon stopped however, when she felt Sasuke pierce her in the stomach with his sword.

She turned her head and looked at him with wide eyes. Tears streaming down her delicate face she looked into the face of the one she once loved. "Sasuke-kun…why..."

"Because you are in my way. Maybe now you will finally understand."

He withdrew his sword from her seeing that the no one would be able to stop him and turned towards Itachi.

"Itachi!This time I'm going to kill you!"

"Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time." Itachi stated before he and his partner disappeared.

Team Hebi quickly left the Konoha ninja to die, going after the Akatsuki members.

Sakura, still conscious, dragged herself over to wear Naruto's body lay.

She quickly summoned chakra to her hands and started to heal him as best she could. Luckily, the Kyuubi's chakra was helping her to speed up the process with Naruto and she was relieved to find that he was merely unconscious but still breathing. He was losing so much blood and fast.

She pushed her chakra as much as she could, but she was starting to get dizzy.

She could hear her shishou scolding her in her mind, _Sakura you know you need to stop before you lose consciousness. This is dangerous._

"No. I..need..to…" her words were cut short as she passed out from chakra loss.

* * *

"We need to return to Rain."

"Are you sure the Kyuubi will be okay? He did get a pretty nasty wound back there."

"It would take a lot more that that to kill him."

"What about the girl?"

"We need to report our findings to him first and then we will decide how to plan our next move."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone for reviewing, favoriting, or adding this story to their alerts list! **

**Realized that I totally forgot the disclaimer for the last chapter, but there is a reason why the site is called Fan**** Fiction.**** NO! I DON'T OWN NARUTO! (It would probably be absolute shit if i did.********)**

**Anyway, PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Sakura was in so much pain. _Sasuke. Why?_ In the background she could hear her Shishou barking orders and the shuffling of the medics' slippers on the floor. The bright light of the operation room blinded her as she started to open her eyes.

"Shishou…"

"Sakura! Thank kami you're awake. We almost lost you for a moment there."

"Oh! What happened to Naruto! Is he okay! I have to go.." Sakura tried to get up only to scream in pain from the wound on her stomach.

"BAKA! Don't go ruining all that work I just did! Naruto is fine. He's been out of the hospital for a few days already."

"A few days… How long was I out?" Sakura asked exasperated.

"Nearly a week. Now, Don't. Try. To. Move. You will be out of here soon if you just let your body finish up the healing process. Sakura-Sakura, look at me. I need you to listen to me. Don't do that again. You were lucky that another team was nearby. You wasting all that chakra to heal Naruto left both of you completely defenseless! Do you understand what would have happened if enemy shinobi had found you! I know that you care for Naruto and wanted to finish healing him, but you should know that the Kyuubi grants Naruto the power to heal rapidly. You could have died! Now rest and don't make me have to give this talk to you again."

"Thank you, Shishou. I apologize for my recklessness." Sakura said with her head bowed, ashamed at her actions.

Tsunade quickly left the room as Shizune finished taking notes on a clip board. She gazed at Sakura for a moment before speaking.

"Your team should be visiting soon. Do you want to send them in when they get here?"

"Yes, thank you Shizune," she responded quietly.

Sakura was lying down on the hospital bed and had her head turned on her side, looking out the window.

_I guess that Sasuke really has cut all of his bonds…I never thought that he could be so cold. All these years I've been dreaming about having him back but the Sasuke I knew is gone. If Sasuke were to return after his revenge it wouldn't be the same. Team seven will never go back to the way it was. Team seven is dead. I was a fool. How could I honestly believe that we could convince him? He left us to die without a backwards glance.__I don't think there is an ounce of goodness left in him._

The kunoichi's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door open. She wasn't surprised at Naruto's presence, but the fact that Sai had come to visit her was a bit unusual. Naruto's usual bright smile was missing from his face, replaced with a frown and his eyes, normally a shining cerulean blue were dark with sadness. Her heart clenched at the picture he made of complete heartbreak.

"Hey Sakura-chan. How are you feeling?" The blonde asked quietly.

_Oh Naruto you must be devastated. He probably thinks he failed me again. Damn that promise._

"Fine. I should be out of the hospital in a few days…I-I'm sorry, Naruto. I acted stupidly. I could have gotten us both killed-"

"Sakura-chan, look at me!"

She did, tears streaming down her face. "Don't worry about it. We are both okay so stop feeling guilty about it. Okay?" he said giving her a brilliant smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

_Oh Naruto, why do you try so hard? He's obviously hurting right now and my crying isn't doing anyone any good. Come on Sakura, pull yourself together. _

"Okay." she said giving a weak smile back. "Where is Kakashi?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"Yo" Sakura turned towards the window only to see her ex-sensei crouched on the window sill.

"Do you ever use the door?" Sakura berated, wiping her eyes, and trying to distract from the fact that she had just been crying.

"What is this door object that you people keep talking about?" Kakashi retorted with false curiosity and a small crinkle in his one eye indicating that there was a smile under his mask.

"Ha-ha very funny you old pervert"

"Oh Sakura, how you wound your poor sensei with these hurtful remarks! I'm not even 35 yet."

"You didn't deny the 'pervert' part, _sensei._"

"Anyway," Kakashi went on ignoring his student's last comment, "How are your injuries? You gave us quite a scare back there."

"I'm fine. Shishou said that I should be out of the hospital in a couple of days."

"You have to get better soon Sakura-chan! We still have to knock some sense into Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled getting excited at the prospect of getting his 'brother' back.

"Then we can be team seven again and eat ramen and train and eat more ramen. Speaking of ramen. I'm hungry…"

"…No."

Everyone in the room turned to look at their pink-haired teammate.

"Kami, Naruto, why don't you get it? You really think things can go back to how they were before? The Sasuke we knew is GONE Naruto! We can't get through to him! He just tried to kill us and he didn't even hesitate this time!"

"…Sakura-chan….You can't be serious! He's our friend-"

"Is a friend supposed to try to kill you Naruto? Huh?"

"…"

"Just...just leave. I need to be alone right now." she spoke softly, turning away from everyone with her eyes shut tightly, trying in vain to stop the tears forming at the ends of her lashes from falling. She didn't let them flow freely until she heard the echoing of the door being shut behind her shocked teammates.

_I can't do this anymore. I can't see your back anymore, Sasuke. You're too far away. Goodbye…Sasuke...kun..._

* * *

Kakashi was walking along the road with his nose stuck in his signature Icha- Icha Paradise book. However, he couldn't concentrate on the romantic adventures of Junko because of what had just happened in Sakura's hospital room.

_She's right though. I don't think Naruto or I ever imagined that Sasuke would ever attack Sakura of all people. He and Naruto have always had a violent relationship, trying to compete against each other, but to do that to Sakura, the girl who always loved him... it just doesn't make any sense. He was always the one that protected her. Maybe the Sasuke we knew really is gone, consumed by his need for power and revenge. I always knew that things would be different if we ever got him back, but at this point I don't think there is any possibility of getting him back. _

_Where did I go wrong? The first team I ever passed...I had such hight hopes for them. They had so much potential and yet their story ended up becoming one of tragedy. Why does every team I am a member of get torn apart. I really need a drink…_

* * *

Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku but there was something obviously wrong. He wasn't even eating ramen. Sakura's words had really affected him.

_How can she say that? We can still get through to him! I'm worried though. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to convince him to come back. He's never attacked us like that before. At least when we fought at the valley of the end he acknowledged our time as team seven…_

_Now he only sees us as something from a forgotten past. That man was nothing like my brother. The Teme I knew would never hurt Sakura-chan…Could Sakura be right? Could Sasuke really be past the point of saving?_

* * *

"We have located the Kyuubi. He is now in Konoha and was recently injured in an altercation with my little brother." Itachi informed calmly, "Furthermore, we have seen some of the skills of Tsunade-hime's apprentice, Haruno Sakura."

"Good. What can you deduce from her skills as a kunoichi?"

"She's a feisty one. Close to the Kyuubi kid. Can definitely pack a punch…Sent the Uchiha brat through a few trees and could probably make me go through a wall with her finger." Kisame answered with a grin on his face, exposing sharp, pointy teeth.

"What is your opinion, Itachi?"

"She was has exceptional chakra control and with training could be a valuable asset to the Akatsuki. I wouldn't be surprised if her skills surpassed that of her mentor's, from what I've witnessed."

"Perfect. I will make the arrangements for your mission. Dismissed."

Itachi was curious about this girl. She did not look like a typical kunoichi with her petite frame and colorful features. Her chakra control was exceptional and she seemed quite capable of being a strong offensive fighter. However, she seemed to enjoy healing more than fighting. She was quite powerful, but foolish. The woman nearly died to completely heal the Kyuubi when she, herself was suffering from blood loss that could have proven to be fatal.

She would surely be interesting to talk to. From what he had heard she was exceptionally intelligent. It was rare to find a shinobi who he could hold a good quality conversation with besides Sasori and all he talked about was his puppets. The rest of the Akatsuki were obsessive in their own ways. Each had some sort of strange obsession from money, to blowing things up, to torture. And then there was Tobi, who appeared to just being a complete idiot. There was something that was not quite right with that man, but so far he had not been able to find anything particularly suspicious aside from his obnoxiousness.

_We will meet soon Sakura…_

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! (the button is calling you. Just move the mouse and click on that small little button that says 'Submit review'. You know you want to. I know that you have an opinion. Even if it's something like 'like the story' or 'update')**

**Thanks! Love you for reading, even if you don't review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited, or added this story to their alerts list.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Team Hebi was traveling through Grass Country following yet another lead on the current location of Uchiha Itachi. Many had been false trails and dead ends, but this latest tip seemed to be genuine.

Sasuke was traveling ahead of the group and continued to scan his surroundings for possible enemy shinobi or more importantly, his brother. While traveling he also began to think about his latest encounter with his old team. He would never admit to even thinking about it but the look on Sakura's face had made something in his chest clench. She had a look of complete devastation. He just needed to send them the message that he was to be left alone, at least until he had his revenge. Any third party who had watched the fight would have seen him ruthlessly cut down his team and leave them for dead whearas the truth of the matter was that he had purposefully missed any vital spots and had already confirmed with Karin that there was another team moving towards the area.

_I had to do it Sakura,I can't allow any of you to be hurt. Itachi would just use you to get to me. I am finally strong enough to kill you Itachi. This time you will have to pay attention to me. The clan will be revenged and will finally rest in peace. Then, I will only have one more goal left. Then, I will be able to return to Konoha and maybe receive their forgiveness._

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks since Sakura had been released from the hospital. She had spent most of her much needed break recovering from her injuries and training. Just as she was starting to get antsy, she was assigned a new mission. It was a solo mission in Grass Country. Her mission was to heal one of the feudal lords who had heard of her great medical skills.

"**Sakura this mission should be a simple one. It should only take about a week so I expect you back as soon as possible. We need you back at the hospital." Sakura's teacher informed her.**

"**Don't worry, I will try to complete the mission as quickly as possible." Sakura gave a bright smile before moving to go out the door before her teacher's voice stopped her.**

"…**Sakura be careful. This is one of your first solo missions after all and don't strain yourself too much while traveling! Your still not fully healed! I will not be happy if you come back with your wounds re-opened!" **

"**I know. See you when I get back, Shishou!" Sakura turned the knob and after the door shut behind her Tsunade sighed. **

_**Why do I feel as if something bad is going to happen? It's only a B rank mission….She'll be fine. I'm probably just being paranoid…just be careful Sakura. Now, where is that bottle of sake?**_

"Well, I better get to bed. If only this stupid lord was , I wouldn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get there. Ugh."

Sakura unlocked her apartment and slowly made her way to bed thinking about the plan for her mission. Walking to her room she started packing so she could have a quick start the next morning.

_I really should apologize to everyone before I go. I haven't even really talked to them since I got out of the hospital. Naruto must hate me right now, but I guess I can talk to him over ramen after the mission. At least I'll only be gone for a week. That'll give me some time to decide what I want to say to Naruto when I get back._

* * *

The future Hokage was lying in his bed, arms supporting his head as he thought about the days of Team 7. He couldn't lose faith. Sasuke would come back. He just knew it. Sakura would be so happy. The blonde could already picture it…Sakura giving Sasuke-teme a punch in the face for being a 'blind idiot… not seeing what was right in front of him' and then Sakura proceeding to hug the bastard until he nearly suffocated…Team 7 going on missions again…him, his Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, and the teme eating lunch together as they watched their children playing together…

Naruto soon fell asleep and if you listened closely one could distinguish the words "no, not the ramen…anything but the ramen…

* * *

"So you guys are heading out to get the kunoichi, yeah?"

"Hn" the Uchiha replied, deeming the artist's question too unimportant to give a real response.

"Yes" Kisame informed, seeing the annoyed look on the artist's face.

"I can't wait to meet her, yeah!It'll be nice to have someone new here. You guys are all so boring."

"Tobi is happy too. Is the kunoichi pretty? Do you think she will like Tobi?" One could practically feel the excitement coming off of the masked man in waves.

"Shut UP TOBI, YEAH!" Deidara yelled, already annoyed with the array of questions the 'shinobi' was bombarding him with.

"What did I do to deserve this? Kami, why do you put me through this torture?" Sasori sighed.

Itachi had learned to ignore the fights of the 'idiots' for the most part and was already walking out of the base.

"Let's go Kisame. We need to capture the kunoichi before Konoha senses that she is in trouble."

"Right" Kisame and his stoic partner ascended into the treetops racing towards their destination of Grass.

* * *

Walking through the village the Anbu kunoichi's senses were on high alert. She knew that someone had been following her for the past couple days, although the minute she could detect a chakra signature it would just be concealed again. The medic-nin was starting to get frustrated.

"Come out. I know that you have been following me." Sakura turned towards her stalkers only to see two figures wearing black cloaks decorated with red clouds, with straw hats sitting on their heads.

"Akatsuki. To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked mockingly.

"Yep. She's a keeper, Itachi." The larger of the two rasped.

"Figures that it would be you two. Am I free to assume that the mission was a set up?" She voiced calmly.

"I thought it would take you longer, Haruno Sakura. It seems that you live up to your reputation" The Uchiha stated in response.

"Cut the shit, Uchiha. What do you want from me?" The kunoichi snapped getting irritated by his presence.

"No need to become upset, Sakura-chan. We only have a proposition for you."

"Who said that you could speak to me so familiarly, Uchiha?" Now she was just plain pissed. The nerve of this guy! Seriously, he clouded Sasuke's mind with revenge, has repeatedly tried to kidnap Naruto only to kill him, put her sensei in the hospital and he calls her Sakura- _**chan**_!

"My apologies." Sakura scoffed. _Apologies MY ASS! _ "I will merely give you our leader's message. We would like you to join the Akatsuki."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"How dare you? As If I would ever betray my friends or my village. Obviously, your leader is an idiot to even think of asking me such a thing." Sakura yelled, venom dripping from her words.

"This is not an invitation you can just refuse." Itachi replied calmly, "You can either come with us willingly or we will knock you out and carry you. Your choice."

"Fuck you!"

"I'll take that as a no. Guess we have to bring her by force then. At least I can have some fun." Kisame grinned as he slowly took his large sword,Samehada, from his back.

Kisame charged forward at a speed Sakura didn't deem possible for someone of his size, especially for carrying such a heavy weapon. The shark-like shinobi swung his sword down towards the kunoichi only to realize that the person he attacked was in actuality a clone.

The real Sakura was already behind him aiming a chakra filled fist towards his back;however, Kisame dodged just in time forcing her to hit the ground instead. The terrain shook as if it had been hit by a mini earthquake as the ground split apart underneath their feet rapidly.

So far Itachi had stayed out of the battle, only observing their target as his partner fought her. Even he had to admit that he would not want to be on the receiving end of her punch, but he knew that she did not have enough speed to even graze him with her deadly fists. That was one thing that they would have to remedy when she joined and he knew that she would join because he knew her greatest weakness. He knew that after he told her of what he knew she would comply with their demands.

Kisame and Sakura continued to oppose each other, both fighting to overpower the other. Kisame had been hit by one of her punches, the result being that his right arm was no longer of use to him seeing as she had shattered the bone. Therefore, Kisame's sword was useless with his dominant hand being immobile. However, Sakura was in no better shape. She had two places on her body where her skin had been shaved off. Her right thigh and left shoulder were bleeding heavily and she knew that she would need to heal herself, otherwise she would pass out and possibly die of blood loss.

Itachi felt that it was high time that they finish this battle. Jumping in front of the kunoichi he kicked her in the gut with such speed that she had no time to react. However, he cursed when he realized that she used substitution.

Sakura knew that she would not last more than five minutes. She worked on healing her wounds, but was only able to stop the blood loss when Itachi found her and gave her a swift kick in the ribs. She gasped as she coughed up blood. She tried to move but was incapacitated as Kisame came up behind her and knocked her out with his left hand.

Itachi watched as the Konoha kunoichi fell to the ground, her long pink tresses falling out of the delicate braid. He picked her up carefully, bridle style, making sure not to damage her ribs any more than necessary. Unfortunately, his brother had chosen the perfect time to show up.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun I can feel Itachi's chakra up ahead. His partner is with him and one other chakra signature that feels familiar but I don't recognize."

"Hn"

_Finally, You will not get away this time Itachi!_

However, just as he entered the clearing his heart nearly stopped. There in front of him was Itachi, but it was what or should he say who was in his brothers arms that brought on the reaction.

Sakura Haruno, his old teammate, was lying unconscious, covered in blood, in the arms of none other than his brother, Uchiha Itachi.

"What did you do to her?" Sasuke yelled enraged.

"What are you so upset about, brat? Those are just some minor wounds. You did worse than this when you encountered her nearly two weeks ago." Kisame conveyed.

Sasuke's eyes widened before narrowing sharply.

Ignoring the shark-man's question Sasuke asked again, "What the fuck do you want with her, Itachi?"

"We have use of her. After refusing our offer to join the Akatsuki we had to use force to acquire her." Itachi stated calmly although you could see a small smirk on his face at his brother's expense.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now." Itachi voiced before he and his partner used a genjutsu to escape back to the base.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Damn you Itachi!" Sasuke screamed. Itachi had escaped from him again and now his brother had Sakura.

…_He can't have her. Why is this happening? She's not supposed to get involved! Damn-it!_

* * *

**End of Chapter 3**

**Please REVIEW! **

**I know that these past chapters have been short but I'm trying my best. **

**If there are questions you need answered just ask in a review and I will reply..**

**Thanks! Love you for reading, even if you don't review.**


	4. Chapter 4

** THANK YOU to everyone that reviewed, favorited, and added this story to their alerts list.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Itachi watched as the kunoichi moaned in her sleep. He could only imagine what kind of pain she was in. Noting the way she kept tossing and turning, the Uchiha could tell that the new recruit would wake up soon and decided to wait for her as he had a few things he needed to discuss with her.

Waking up, memories raced through Sakura's mind reminding her of how she came to be in this position. Shooting up from the bed she nearly screamed from the excruciating pain that shot through her body like a fire burning her to the very core.

"Fuck!" she spat through gritted teeth trying to summon her chakra to relieve the pain. The kunoichi was so intent on repairing her wounds that she had yet to notice the Uchiha's presence.

Sakura could have cried in relief when she discovered that she still had the ability to summon her chakra. She quickly observed her surroundings while healing and was able to sense Itachi's presence. Keeping her appearance calm, she asked, "What do you plan to do with me?"

The injured kunoichi made sure to avoid looking into his eyes. Even she knew that she was no match for the great Uchiha Itachi's sharingan. She wouldn't admit it out loud for pride's sake, but those eyes brought up too many bad memories for her and she refused to show emotional weakness in front of him.

Itachi observed the woman in front of him for a moment before answering.

"Akatsuki is in need of a medic and you were the best choice. After you heal your wounds you may take a shower. Deidara will get some clothes for you."

Also having noticed the kunoichi's behavior he stated, "I will not use the sharingan on you, there is no need for it if you cooperate."

"And what the hell makes you think that I will just listen to you! I am not so selfish as to betray my village just to save my own life!"

"Ah, but what of your friends…yes we know about the Yamanaka, we could always kill her to convince you…or maybe Naruto-kun's girlfriend who seems to be such a close companion to you? I'm sure that you would not want to be responsible for harm coming to them."

"All of my friends are protected within Konoha. You can't touch them!"

Sakura reached up just in time to catch a piece of paper thrown by Itachi. Looking down Sakura realized it was a photograph of all of her friends. It was the one she kept on her dresser right next to the jewelry box Ino had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday.

"Do you need more proof? Here." He tossed a handful of photos onto the bed. All of them were from the past few weeks that she was in Konoha. There was a picture of Hinata and Naruto at Ichiraku, Her and Ino shopping in the market...

Sakura was hard pressed to believe that Konoha's security was so lax that they were able to get into her home. But how else would he have gotten the photos? She had no doubt that they would have no issues with killing her loved ones. Searching in her mind frantically for a solution she soon gave up finding that it was hopeless.

_If I try to escape they will be able to find me quickly and may hurt my friends as punishment. If I kill myself they will probably kill my friends in spite and I am no where near as strong as they are so I can't defeat them….I have no choice. I have to cooperate until someone comes to find me or I have an opportunity to escape._

Looking up into the face of her captor Sakura searched his aristocratic features for any hint of a lie and when she found none she answered, "I will cooperate."

"Good. Please follow me."

Walking down the hall, Itachi thought about his little brother's ex-teammate. She was definitely an interesting kunoichi. He could tell that she was wary of him, but that didn't see to be stopping her from disrespecting him. At first glance, one would never think that she could be a kunoichi, especially with such delicate features. However, the grace with which she walked and the confidence with which she held herself could be attributed to nothing if not the training of a kunoichi.

After reaching the bathroom, Itachi turned towards the petite woman following behind him.

"You may take as long as you like. Everything you need should be there. I will have Deidara set clean clothes outside the door." After confirming that she had understood, Itachi left the woman to her own devices and headed towards the kitchen.

"How's the kunoichi?" Kisame asked

"She is currently taking a shower. Deidara, go find some clean clothes for her and leave them outside of the bathroom."

"Right,yeah."

Unnoticed by the others, Tobi had gone down the hall into the bathroom. After having to use almost all of her chakra on healing her wounds, Sakura was exhausted and didn't notice the shinobi's presence enter the area.

Sakura's eyes were closed as she massaged the shampoo into her hair. The warm water felt so good, relieving the tension in her sore muscles. Opening her eyes and turning around she finally saw the peeping tom.

It was at that moment that she chose to scream at the top of her lungs.

It only took the three in the kitchen a matter of seconds to reach the bathroom before they barged right through the door only to find a soaking wet Sakura struggling to hold a towel against the front of her body. Kisame and Deidara stared, the latter with a light blush dusting his cheeks, while the Uchiha appeared to be completely unaffected.

Sakura was blushing madly because seriously, what girl wouldn't when there are a bunch of men standing in front of you while you're almost completely naked.

"What happened?" Itachi asked in his calmly.

"**What happened! Are you shitting me! That pervert decided to come watch me in shower!"** She retorted furiously pointing to Tobi who was cowering in a corner.

"Now, pinky there is no need to get so upset and beside Tobi can't help himself, he's an idiot." Kisame replied.

Sakura really wanted to punch the shark-man to the other side of the earth, but she knew that she had to keep her cool, the fact that she was only wearing a towel and that they were still staring at her didn't help though. Instead she just clenched her fist in an attempt to calm herself. Sakura's nails drew blood from clenching her fist so tightly and anyone could see the pure loathing in her eyes.

"Do you mind leaving so that I can get back to my shower?" she asked sarcastically.

"Actually I would, yeah." Deidara replied before Kisame slapped him upside the head.

"Out. Now." Sakura yelled.

Deidara dropped the clothes he was holding before he, Kisame, and Tobi hightailed it out of there, while Itachi merely walked out calmly while shutting the door firmly behind him.

What Sakura didn't realize was that it wasn't what she said that scared them off, but Itachi's glare. They all knew better than to argue with Itachi when he was pissed.

Sakura finished washing, dried off and dressed quickly. Opening the bathroom door Sakura found Itachi leaning against the wall with his eyes closed waiting for her. The Uchiha started walking as Sakura followed him to the kitchen.

"I imagine you are hungry." Itachi stated.

Walking into the kitchen, Sakura saw Kisame, Deidara, and another member she didn't recognize playinng a card game as Sasori talked with Deidara.

She stopped in her tracks as she saw the puppet-master. _Isn't he supposed to be dead? _

"Ah. Hello Haruno Sakura. It has been a while since we last met." Sasori expressed with a small smirk on his angelic face.

Sakura didn't know how to react as she was surrounded by S-class criminals, many of which had hurt her friends. However after a moment of hesitation Sakura responed calmly, "Yes, well, I was hoping we wouldn't ever meet again and yet here I stand in your kitchen."

"Hidan and Kakuzu should be coming back with food so you may as well sit down and wait until they get here."

Sakura was just about to sit down next to Kisame when Hidan kicked the door open and deposited five bags filled with takeout on the table.

"Who the fuck is this?" Hidan asked interested in the girl's presence.

Kakuzu proceeded to hit his partner over the head for cursing and then sat down at the table waiting for one of the other members to introduce the woman.

A deep voice which Sakura did not recognize came from the doorway, "This is Haruno Sakura, Konoha kunoichi and medic-nin taught by Tsunade-hime. She is also our newest member." Sakura observed the shinobi who had just walked into the room. He had dark orange hair and piercings along both sides of his nose and on his bottom lip. "I am the leader of Akatsuki, Sakura-san. You may call me Pein."

"Well I would say that I'm glad to be here, but I'm not much for lying." She replied giving a fake smile.

Tobi ,who had come in right behind Pein, broke the silence by enthusiastically asking,"Does pretty lady like Tobi?"

Sakura turned to him and after a moment answered his question with one word, "No" she said flatly.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Pretty lady doesn't like Tobi! Senpai, why doesn't pretty lady like Tobi?" he cried while clinging on to Deidara.

"Maybe it's because you were watching her shower, yeah." Deidara stated bluntly.

All the other men, who had not previously heard the incident, turned to look at Sakura who now had a tint of a blush on her face.

Pein glared at Tobi and then turned towards Sakura,"I apologize for Tobi's rudeness. I will talk to him after lunch."

"So is she hot?" Hidan asked. Deidara was about to respond but promtly shut his mouth when he recieved glares from Pein, Sasori, and Itachi as Kakuzu again slapped his partner upside the head.

At this point Sakura's eyebrow was twitching in irritation. "Please excuse me."

Sakura gracefully rose from her chair and walked from the kitchen back to her room. She needed to think. This whole situation was pissing her off. And the nerve of some of those stupid criminals! Here she was a long way from home with no escape in sight and then they proceed to invade her privacy and talk about her as if she were a common whore. She had to bite her lip resulting in a new wound to keep from crying in frustration and humiliation.

After finishing his dinner quickly Itachi left to check on the kunoichi. Walking down the hall he walked right into her room without asking for permission.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking? I thought coming from a prestigious clan would have taught you manners." Sakura said, muffled by the pillow.

"Hn" was all he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I apologize for their behavior. It was disrespectful. It will not happen again."

"Whatever, I shouldn't have expected you to be civilized as you are all merely cold-hearted killers with no moral center."

Itachi just raised an eyebrow at her statement. _Well I wasn't expecting that…_

"You may sleep. Pein will talk to you tomorrow about the conditions of your stay here."

"Um..."

"Yes?" he asked his hand resting on the door knob.

"Thank you...for your apology." she said hesitantly.

Itachi only smirked when he finally closed the door. _It seems that she is warming up to me._

* * *

**End of Chapter 4.**

**Thanks, love you for reading, even if you don't review!**

**(I would love you more if you reviewed…hehehehe)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sakura was sleeping soundly until she started to feel something shake her, telling her to wake up.

"get out of my house Naruto….it's my day off." Sakura mumbled with her eyes closed.

"I'm not Naruto." A silky smooth voice answered.

_That is __**not**__ Naruto's voice. _

Sakura immediately sat up only to come face to face with Itachi.

"You should always be on guard even when you are asleep" the Akatsuki member critiqued.

"Yeah, um... why did you wake me up so early?" Sakura asked drowsily

"Everyone agreed that you would make breakfast before we all go out and train."

"I guess I have no choice in the matter?"

"..." Seeing the Uchiha's expression, the Konoha nin's concern was answered.

"Thought so… just let me get changed." Sakura replied. The kunoichi jumped out of bed wearing only the shirt Itachi had provided the day before which, due to her size, fell to her mid-thigh.

Itachi, being a man, couldn't help but observe how the muscles in her legs flexed as she bent over to pull up her pants before he turned towards the door.

Still trying to wake up, Sakura stumbled down the halls with Itachi in front of her as they made their way to the kitchen. The sight that greeted her was surprising to say the least. Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, Tobi, Hidan and Kakuzu were all seated around the table, looking at her expectantly, soon to be joined by Itachi.

"Where is the fucking food, bitch!"

"How about you make it your self you mother-fucking asshole?" Sakura retorted

For a moment everyone was silent until Deidara and Kisame started laughing their asses off.

"Looks like you've met your match, Hidan" Deidara yelled barely controlling his laughter enough for it to be decipherable.

Kisame couldn't even form words and even Itachi couldn't help but give a little smirk.

"Anyway, Hidan was it? I am not your bitch and I will not be treated as such. If you talk to me in that way again I will cut off a part of you that will not be sewn back on so easily."

A few of the men winced, while Tobi had no idea as to what was going on. _I wonder what part she means?_

Seeing the looks on their faces Sakura almost burst into laughter but was somehow able to keep a straight face.

"… and I thought Itachi was sadistic…" Kisame said in awe.

Itachi frowned at Kisame's statement.

"whore" Hidan murmered under his breath.

"What was that, I didn't hear you?" Sakura asked in a sing-song voice.

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought." Sakura replied with a smirk adorning her face.

* * *

"BAAAAAAAAA-CHAAAAANNN! WHERE IS SAKURA-CHAN!"

"For the last time Naruto, I don't know. She was supposed to be home two days ago. I have a feeling that something went wrong, but for now we will wait. For all we know the lord's illness could have been more serious than we originally thought and she had to stay a few more days."

"We need to go look for her! What if something bad did happen and she is lying in the middle of nowhere bleeding to death!" Naruto yelled, upset at the lack of concern for Sakura.

"Naruto, I taught Sakura myself. I know how strong she is and you have seen with your own eyes the skills she has. Let's just wait a few more days and then I will send your team to find her, okay?"

"Fine, Baa-chan, but she had better be okay."

* * *

Even after a few days had passed Sasuke's mood didn't lessen. His temper was shorter than usual since he had seen Sakura get taken by Itachi. Sasuke could easily see that Sakura had grown into a beautiful woman and he didn't want to think about what the Akatsuki might use her for.

He couldn't stand the idea that his brother might taint the innocence that made Sakura so appealing, especially since he felt that he alone was worthy of taking that innocence from her. She did love him after all…

* * *

It had taken a couple weeks, but Sakura had finally started to feel a little more comfortable around the Akatsuki. She had not been sent on any missions as of yet as she still needed some training, but she was already starting to form bonds with many of the members that she had met, despite being a part of the organization against her will. There weren't a lot of options for her at the moment besides storing any information about the organization that she could and wait for her team to come for her.

At the moment Sakura was participating in a drinking contest with Kisame. So far the result was close to a tie with Kisame a little ahead. Sakura, following after her mentor in the habit of drinking lots of sake, was now on her fourth bottle, while Kisame was just starting his fifth.

Deidara and Tobi were cheering them on, while Itachi and Sasori sat back and watched in amusement. Who would have thought that such a petite kunoichi could hold her liquor so well?

"DAMN-IT! YOU WIN! My head hurts!" Sakura yelled with a cute pout on her face that all the men, though they would never admit it, thought was adorable. All of the members were surprised when Sakura was able to perform a simple medical jutsu that took all the alcohol out of her system.

"That feels better." Sakura sighed. She then went over to Kisame and helped him with his drunkenness.

"HAHA! Pinky you definitely know how to hold your liquor better than any other kunoichi I've met!" Kisame exclaimed. "It's nice to have a good drinking buddy around here."

Deidara reminded her of Naruto at times with his cheery personality and always seemed to make her smile with the help of Tobi. Those two were always getting into trouble…Tobi would do something stupid and then Deidara would proceed to blow shit up making Pein upset with him. It was during these instances that Sakura had to force herself to remember that Deidara was the one responsible for killing Gaara.

Sakura had tried to make the members trust her by telling them bits and pieces about her past in Konoha. She had told them that her father was a shinobi who had died on a mission when she was three and her mother had died during the attack on Konoha by Sound. She talked a lot about Team 7 and her time as a genin.

* * *

"We were all really close. Sasuke and Naruto were always trying to surpass each other and were like brothers to each other. They fought constantly. I was the one who had to keep them in line as Kakashi was too busy reading Icha-Icha to interfere. It wasn't until after Orochimaru made an appearance that things began to change...Sasuke started to become obsessed with power and it wasn't until that one day at the hospital..." She fell silent for a while and drifted through her memories.

It was rare for members to share information about their past lives so they stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt her train of thought. It was hard to talk about how her team was torn apart by Sasuke's betrayal. Especially when the man responsible for Sasuke's obsession was sitting right in front of her, but it seemed pointless to stop when she had already started.

"Sasuke and Naruto went to the roof to fight. But, this time, it wasn't just a spar. It wasn't even that they were trying to kill each other. It was more like they were in a different world. They didn't seem to be thinking about death being a consequence. Sasuke was just so determined to show that he was better and Naruto was consumed with wanting to show Sasuke that he was his equal. Sasuke started up his Chidori and Naruto formed his Rasengan and they started to charge one another. I wanted to stop it and blindly tried to run in between to stop them from hurting each other."

"Foolish" Itachi muttered. She smiled. It was a smile filled with bitterness.

"It was foolish. I would have died had Kakashi not stepped in before they got to me. But the worst was when Sasuke left. I tried to stop him but failed and soon a team was sent to retreive him. Sasuke nearly killed Naruto during their fight at the Valley of the End and soon afterwards I went to Tsunade to ask her to train me as an apprentice. I didn't want to have to wait at the sidelines anymore or be the one that everyone had to protect." Sakura uttered quietly before sighing.

"So once Naruto returned from his training trip with Jiraiya we all worked our way into Anbu and have still continued to try and get Sasuke back. However, I'm starting the think that path is a lost cause."

Sakura stood up and stretched before heading towards the hallway. "Well, I think that is more than enough story time for tonight! I'm going to bed!"

* * *

That night she had a nightmare. She didn't have them very often anymore. However, it seemed that it was still too soon to bring up those memories without suffering the consequences. It played like a movie.

_Sasuke telling her she was weak._

_Naruto and Sasuke fighting on the rooftop._

_Her struggling and failing to protect the ones she loved._

_The night that Sasuke left, his last words to her._

_Waking up the next morning to find that he was gone and that she had failed to stop him._

_Naruto, covered in bandages, apologizing to her because he failed to bring Sasuke back to her._

_Naruto leaving the village to train with Jiraya._

_Losing Chiyo in the fight with Sasori._

_Failing to stop Naruto when he turned into the Kyuubi._

_Not being able to do anything when they saw Sasuke in Sound._

_And finally, Sasuke staring into her eyes as he stabbed her. _

_However, then the video stopped and the image changed. Sasuke and Naruto were walking ahead of her, but they appeared to be a little older than they were now. They were walking through the village, returning from the training grounds. She looked down noticing that she was wearing the same standard jounin uniform as the boys were wearing. _

_"Come on Sakura! We need to go get some ramen!" Naruto yelled, smiling back at her. _

_Sasuke just scoffed, "Dobe. Why must we always get ramen? You know you're just going to get fat if you keep eating so much." _

_"Sasuke-teme!" _

_She smiled. This is just how she had imagined it would be. However, as she moved to run towards them, the image started to fade into the darkness. "Wait! Don't go!" But it was too late and the image was gone. _

_It wasn't long before she found herself in another dream. It was raining. She didn't know where she was but it appeared to be a forest of some kind. She could hear the clash of metal in the distance in addition to the sound of the rain falling on the trees. Somehow she knew who was fighting and as she walked into the clearing her suspicions proved to be correct. Sasuke and Naruto were facing each other. Both had numerous injuries and it apparent that they had been fighting for a long period of time. It didn't look like they would ever stop. _

_"Sasuke! Naruto! Stop it! You can't keep doing this!" They didn't seem to hear her. They were running towards each other. _

_She had to stop them, but she couldn't move. Why couldn't she move? "Naruto! Sasuke! Please!"_

_They weren't stopping. Why weren't they stopping? No, please! I can't lose them. I can't lose them! I CAN'T LOSE THEM!_

She woke up screaming, covered in sweat. There were tears streaming down her face. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down._ It was just a dream Sakura. _She looked around her room to make sure that no one else was there. _Thank kami. The last thing I need is everyone bursting in here only to find me crying like a baby. _

Little did she know that Itachi was standing right outside her door the entire time. He had almost entered, but had hesitated. She would not want comfort from him, the man whose actions had destroyed her happiness. _I am sorry. Maybe one day you will understand, but by that time I will be in another world.

* * *

_

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorited, or added my story to their alerts list. I really appreciate it. I love all of the supportive reviews I've been getting. They always put a smile on my face. **

**Thanks! Love you for reading, even if you don't review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to all of the people who reviewed, favorited, and added this story to their alerts list. I really appreciate reviews so please tell me what you think. It will help me to improve.**

**WARNING: lemony lime later in the chapter (I wasn't sure if it past the lime limit, but whatever)**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_It's been a little over two weeks since Sakura left on that mission and there hasn't even been so much as a message from her with an explanation. This isn't like her. _

"Shizune, I'm getting worried. I don't think that we can wait any longer for Sakura. Get Teams Kakashi and Gai."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

The moment Shizune left Tsunade put her head in her hands.

_Sakura where are you? You better be okay._

* * *

Walking to Pein's office with Itachi, Sakura felt as if she was losing her mind. To tell the truth the Leader of Akatsuki scared the shit out of her. She could practically feel the beat of her heart increasing as she walked to the large wooden door that would lead her into the darkness of the Leader's office.

She slowly knocked on the large obstacle in front of her trying to stay calm and once she was asked to enter she pushed the door open. She was surprised to say the least that the Leader's office was almost exactly like her shishou's only much more organized. Of course she had been expecting something more along the lines of a dark, cold, wet cave with a huge monument of himself in the background. The guy thought he was a God after all…After observing her surroundings Sakura turned to look at the man seated at the desk in front of her.

"As you have been informed we want you to join Akatsuki. We are in need of a permanent medic-nin and we could use your fighting skills once they have been improved. Though your skills are above average they are barely in the same rank as the skills of the members here. However, you have the potential to be an important asset to this organization."

Sakura's answer was immediate she didn't even think before answering. She could not help the enemy. "I cannot betray my village and I refuse to help you capture Naruto!"

"What if I told you that I would stop chasing Uzumaki Naruto?"

"You would leave him alone?" she asked, suspicious of his intentions.

"Yes, but understand that in return, you will have to stay loyal to the Akatsuki for the rest of your life."

"I still will not go against my allies!"

The leader sighed. Damn she was a stubborn one, but they really needed a medic since Hidan killed the last one and all of the members seemed to not want her to leave. She had to join at almost any cost. He figured since he had enough power that not giving her the Kyuubi would work, but of course they just had to choose miss I-will-die-before-betraying-my-village.

"Very well. I hope you understand what I am doing for you."

"Since you are not against Konoha can we make an alliance?"

This time the leader narrowed his eyes and glared. "I have been much too flexible already. Giving up on the Kyuubi is one thing but now I can't accept any missions that deal with Fire or Wind Country. Don't push it."

"Doesn't hurt to try," Sakura said while scratching her cheek nervously, " I appreciate what you have done for me."

"Welcome to Akatsuki Haruno Sakura. There will be a cloak and ring located in your bedroom when you return. The cloak obviously signifies that you are a part of Akatsuki and the ring will allow you to communicate with your fellow members when you are away from the base. Itachi will teach you the hand signs for the communication jutsu."

"Wait how did you know that I would accept?"

"Trust me you would have joined in one way or another."

_Stupid. This is Akatsuki. They don't take no for an answer. But at least now Naruto will be safe._

* * *

Team Kakashi and Team Gai were now all present in Tsunade's office. They all had an idea as to why they were standing in front of the Hokage's desk as everyone had been wondering about Sakura's abscense.

"As you all probably know the reason you are here is because we have not received word from Sakura since she was sent on her solo mission roughly three weeks ago. I am sending all of you on a search for her. I believe that she may have been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. I received word that they were spotted around Grass about the time of her mission. I expect you to return here with her in one piece. Got it?"

"Hai"

"Dismissed"

They all walked out of the room with worried expressions. All of them knew Sakura was an Anbu captain but still…there is no way for her to stand up to the entire Akatsuki by herself.

Naruto of course was close to having a break down. First Sasuke left and now Sakura has been taken away from him. Why did bad things always happen to people he cared about? He was anxious about Sakura the most because he wasn't there to protect her. That was his job as her brother.

"We'll save her Naruto. Don't worry. She's a strong girl." Kakashi comforted. The group leader seemed to be reassuring himself more than Naruto though. He was truly scared. Sakura may have monstrous strength, he knew, he was on the receiving end of it, but even she would not be able to stand up to the likes of Itachi Uchiha.

* * *

The Akatsuki had decided to celebrate by having some take out, courtesy of Pein, to congratulate Sakura on her induction into the organization.

Hidan and Kakuzu were not able to attend as they were out on another mission and Pein had decided not to join them, instead leaving to meet Konan when she arrived for a report. Deidara was arguing with Tobi and Sasori over art which seemed to be an argument that never appeared to reach a conclusion as Kisame continued to drink ridiculous amounts of sake.

As everyone else appeared to be occupied, Sakura had stalked over to the Uchiha who was brooding in a dark corner and being anti-social as usual. However, the kunoichi had noticed that Itachi's eyes had been bothering him a lot tonight. She had a feeling the problem had to do with the sharingan especially since Kakashi had mentioned upon their last encounter that Itachi was slowly going blind.

Kakashi had already gone through the many difficulties with his transplanted eye and therefore understood some of the side effects of the sharingan. After two years of research in the restricted archives Sakura was able fix most of the problems with Kakashi's sharingan allowing him to deactivate it. Therefore, he was also able to reserve his chakra for longer periods since it wasn't being sucked up by the sharingan. Luckily, Tsunade and Shizune could also complete the healing procedure if there was ever any trouble with Kakashi's eye in the future so Sakura didn't have to worry about her sensei having problems.

Sakura was nervous about asking the Uchiha about healing his eyes as he did not like people knowing about his weaknesses but she decided to give it a shot. "Itachi, I know that your eyesight is deteriorating. As Akatsuki's medic it is my responsibiltiy to keep all of you men in your top form. I can heal your eyes in a few sessions, but I will need to see the extent of the damage your sharingan has inflicted on your eyesight. I could even start your healing tonight if you wish."

Itachi and Sakura both knew that she was still betraying her village by offering, but he decided not to say anything, instead choosing to only nod in acknowledgment.

Sakura merely raised an eyebrow.

Seeing her irritated look Itachi, though seriously considering annoying her further, decided to give her an comprehensible response. "Very well. I will be waiting in your room.

_When I said tonight I didn't mean right now..._

_**Inner: That gorgeous piece of ass is going to be in our room and you are complaining! **_

_Shut up!  
_

* * *

Walking into her room Sakura found Itachi lying on her bed with his cloak and forehead protector off. She always found that he looked years younger without it. He wasn't much older than her, but the lines on his face made him seem years older. There had been many times when she had been tempted to ask him why he had those lines but she was always too afraid that he would get mad at her.

Sakura walked over to the bed and sat next to Itachi. Seeing that he was ready she felt the need to explain what she was going to do during the healing procedure.

"Alright first I am going to send some chakra into your eyes and observe your chakra canals as you switch between your regular eyesight and your bloodline."

Sending chakra into his eyes, she told him to keep his sharingan activated while she checked his eyes. He tensed at first but soon relaxed as her soothing chakra entered his system. From what Sakura was able to observe, the muscles had been torn from overuse with no time to rest. She instructed him to change back to his normal eyes and she noticed that the tension in his muscles had decreased. Furthermore, after observing for a few minutes she could see that the muscle was starting to heal. Next she went on to request that he use his Mangekyo sharingan so she could see what that part of his bloodline did in reference to his eyes. Immediately, she could see his eyes start to strain against the overuse of chakra for the advanced sharingan technique.

Stopping her chakra flow into his eyes Sakura sat back and began to take notes in a medical notebook so as to assess what she should do next.

"Okay. Every time you use your bloodline, mangekyo or not, you cause damage to your eyes. You are overusing the muscles in your eyes by keeping your sharingan on all the time. Just like how you have to rest after training so as to not over work the muscles in the rest of your body so you don't tear a ligament you need to rest the muscles in your eyes. So from now on you can only have your sharingan on if you are in battle. That means no bloodline while at the base unless you are training."

After explaining the destruction Sakura went on to start the healing process, working with the most impaired areas first. Fortunately, she had a good deal of chakra so as to enable her to get at least half of the healing done. Hopefully Itachi wouldn't need to start using his sharingan again until she was completely finished with healing him. Otherwise, he would just re-injure the muscles in his eyes and then she would have to start from square one.

Healing on into the early morning Sakura eventually passed at about three.

Itachi looked down at her. It was the first time he had really seen what she looked like. Even with his bad eyesight before he knew that she was attractive but now that he could really see her he understood what the other members were making such a fuss over. She was a very desirable woman. Unlike most kunoichi her skin, or at least what he could see of it, was flawless which most likely the result of her being a medical kunoichi. Her full, rosy lips were slightly parted as she breathed in and out softly and her long rosette hair was sprawled across the bed begging for him to comb his fingers through it. He moved some strands out of her face gently, not wanting to disturb her sleep, and watched her calm breathing until he fell asleep.

Waking up hours later she found Itachi staring at her. She had never seen his eyes without the sharingan activated and was immediately entranced. His eyes were the blackest black like pools of ink and soon she saw an emotion shining through those eyes. Amusement. It was then she realized that she had been staring at him for the past five minutes, not to mention the fact that she was lying completely on top of him with her head on his chest and their legs intertwined.

Blushing madly Sakura quickly got off of the older Uchiha and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry Itachi. I guess I used up too much chakra and passed out. I did it all the time at the hospital. Tsunade always got upset with me for working to much and-"

"Sakura, you're rambling." Itachi interrupted amusement still evident in his eyes.

"Right. Let's go get breakfast."

* * *

Following after Itachi towards the kitchen Sakura made sure that he kept his bloodline deactivated. "Do they feel better? Is there any pain?"

"They are better than they have been in years, though there is still some blurriness, but I can still see everything much more clearly. I don't have any pain, just soreness."

"Wow. That is the most I've heard you talk….ever."

"hn"

"Damn you!"

Arriving in the kitchen at breakfast the rest of the members were surprised that Itachi didn't have his sharingan activated. Knowing what they were thinking Sakura explained.

"You were actually able to heal Itachi's eyes?" Kisame exclaimed.

"It will take one or two more sessions to completely heal them, but I'm not known as one of the best medics for nothing Fishy-chan" She teased.

"Hey!" Kisame exclaimed.

"Fishy-chan…I like it yeah" Deidara then went into a laughing fit after seeing Kisame's expression.

Once everyone finished breakfast they all went out to train. In the few weeks that Sakura had been with the Akatsuki she had not been able to more than light training due to her injuries. Furthermore, Pein wanted to become more comfortable with the other members before he allowed her the use of any weapons.

* * *

Itachi was sparring with Sakura, helping the kunoichi improve her speed which still needed some work. Especially in forming hand signs. Her ninjutsu was good, but not quite Akatsuki level. Nevertheless, she was great in every other area. Her genjutsu was impressive and of course her inhuman strength was her best technique along with her medical jutsu. Those that had not seen her skills before were impressed. However, after a few hours they were all exhausted from increased humidity so they decided to go back inside to cool off. They had a late lunch and then everyone hung out in the den and watched Kisame and Deidara fight over who was going to clean the dishes.

After lunch Sakura had gone straight to her room. She told them that she was just tired not wanting to worry them. Itachi was the only one not convinced.

"You seem troubled by something." Itachi stated while leaning against her doorway. Sakura looked at him with her jade eyes searching his expression. Sakura had discovered a few weeks ago that she was able to read Itachi's face due to her time with Sasuke. She knew that he was worried even if his tone did nothing to suggest this. "Don't worry Itachi. I'm fine."

She walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek and was about to pull away when she felt Itachi swiftly take hold of her wrist. He pulled her into his broad chest and brushed his lips against hers gently.

At first Sakura was too shocked to respond, but soon she started to slowly press her lips against his and moved them slowly against his. She could tell that Itachi was pleased as he hummed in satisfaction and responded by grabbing the back of her neck and tilting her head so as to make the kiss deeper.

Feeling the Uchiha nip at her bottom lip Sakura parted her lips to allow his tongue to explore the sweetness of her mouth. The taste of her made him groan in gratification. It had been a while since he had felt this way. He didn't know why he was doing this. All he knew is that he needed to do this if he was to keep his sanity.

Sakura was in heaven. His hands were smooth when they made contact with her skin as he started to play with the edge of her shirt and touch her toned abdomen with the tips of his fingers.

They finally pulled apart for air. Itachi looked at the woman before him. Her lips were red and thoroughly swollen from the pressure of his lips against hers. Jade eyes filled with lust and affection stared up at him. In all of the twenty three years that he had been in this world he had never met anyone like her. For whatever reason she seemed to accept him, even knowing that he was responsible for Sasuke's pain. Over the past month she had spent with them she had witnessed these S-class criminals eat together and make jokes with each other. She seemed to realize that everyone had their own story as to why they were the way they were. She was able to see the light in the dark of their hearts. For now that was enough.

Kissing her passionately Itachi started picked her up as she wrapped her legs around his hips making her feel his hard erection through her shorts and panties. As their lips stayed joined Itachi walked towards the bed and soon after tumbling onto the soft mattress the Uchiha hovered over her body, supporting his weight on his forearms so as not to crush her.

They broke apart and Itachi's lips immediately moved to her neck sucking on the pulse point resulting in a sensual moan from Sakura. He smirked with approval after hearing her response and soon started to slip off her clothes.

Sakura knew that this was moving too fast but she could not find it within her to stop. Itachi respected her and she knew that if she wanted him to stop he would. She wanted this.

Her shirt and shorts were the first to go and he soon realized that the clothes she wore gave her body no justice. Although he soon counted that as a good thing since it meant that other men wouldn't be able to see her as he did now.

His warm breath against her skin made her tremble with desire. How was he able to do this to her? He had barely even done anything and yet she was already wet from his touch. He could tell that she was pining for him to touch her and he complied with her silent pleading. His skilled hands explored every crevice of her body as she responded to his touch. Sakura's skin was on fire and she could feel herself start to ache for more. She needed him. Sensing what she wanted, Itachi, with practiced expertise, unhooked her bra and threw it to the side. He caressed her soft breast with one hand as his hot mouth latched onto the other. She had never realized how sensitive her breasts could be as she felt her arousal grow. He soon went to place his mouth on her neglected breast as he continued to tweak her nipple with the hand he wasn't using to support his weight. Her back arched as she tried to get him to suck harder, her hands intertwined with his hair.

"Itachi" she moaned. Just hearing the way she said his name aroused him. He soon detached from her breasts to take off his own shirt as she struggled with his pants. Both of them were trembling hot with lust for each other. His usually cold eyes were filled with warmth as he looked at her and she could tell what he was trying to say. She knew that he didn't love her, but she was important to him and she felt the same way.

* * *

Itachi was lying on the bed with Sakura curled up against his chest, her nose nuzzled into the crook of his neck. He gazed at her softly as he stroked her hair. Of course he knew that she would be worn out seeing as they had taken part in more vigorous activities well into the early morning hours. It wasn't long until Itachi fell asleep content in the feeling that he could trust this woman to accept him despite his bloody past.

* * *

**TBC…**

** Love you for reading, even if you don't review!**

**(But I really looooooooooove reviews so tell me what you think)**


	7. Chapter 7

**YAY! 19 REVIEWS FOR THE LAST CHAPTER!**

**First things first, I would really like to thank everyone that has read, reviewed, and favorited my story. You guys are the reason why I keep writing. If you have any suggestions tell me!**

**Okay this is the seventh chapter. I know I am taking a long time between my chapters and I am so sorry for that, but I am really busy with school and work.**

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER 7**

Waking up Sakura lifted her head to see the man she had slept with the night before. She knew that she was falling for him and she knew that this fall could kill her in the end.

_He looks so peaceful when he is sleeping._

Seeing the time on the clock she decided to wake him from his slumber. She started to kiss him lightly on his chest and eventually made her way up to his face.

"Wake up sleepy-head" she cooed, kissing his forehead lightly.

Itachi just tightened his grip around her waist as he mumbled his complaints into the crook of her slender neck.

"Itachi! It is already two in the afternoon! Everyone is going to wonder---"

Of course Kisame decided to take this time to barge into the room without knocking first. "Pinky, are you dead? It's already past lunchtime" he froze when he saw the two naked Akatsuki members in the bed. However, he immediately stopped ogling Sakura when he felt the Uchiha's murderous glare.

"Uhhh…. I'll just leave you two alone." He left the room quickly. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at what had just occurred. "And just what is so funny?" Itachi asked an annoyed expression on his features.

"Did you see the look on his face?" she asked still laughing. Itachi rolled his eyes.

"I should take a shower." She said getting up, but he wrapped his strong arms around her tiny waist, stopping her and preceded to pull her back to the bed.

"Where do you think you are going? Hmmm….?"

"Itachi we have to get up sometime…The sooner you get up the sooner it is that we can get everything else done. Then," she whispered seductively, "your can do whatever you want with me, okay?"

"You know we could conserve water if I went with you."

"We won't get anything done if that happens because we both know that we wouldn't stop in the shower."

He let her go reluctantly. "Alright, I'll go make you some breakfast, or lunch judging by the time."

"Alright." she said giving him a quick kiss. She dragged herself out of the bed, without bothering to grab a robe and walked to the bathroom , with Itachi admiring her nice ass.

"Itachi stop it!"

He sighed; he really wanted to have a nice morning treat.

_Oh just wait for what I have in store for you tonight… _Itachi thought smirking.

Itachi put his clothes back on and went to his own room to take a quick shower. After dressing for the day, Itachi went to the kitchen to start making some lunch and found most of the members seated at the table

Itachi started to make some food when he noticed Kisame looking at him. Kisame had told the rest of the guys what he had witnessed, but thought it better not to ask Itachi about it. Itachi glared at him as Sakura walked into the room, warning him not to say anything on risk of torture by the sharingan.

"Hey guys do you mind if we go shopping today? I really need some more clothes and desperately need to stock up on medical supplies for the base."

"We can leave after lunch." Itachi replied

"Okay."

They left thirty minutes later for the town. Not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves, the Akatsuki members left their cloaks at the base. They just looked like a group of traveling shinobi. When they arrived Itachi and Sakura went shopping for her while the others went to buy supplies and food. Sakura looked in her purse to find that she didn't have much money and sighed in disappointment. Itachi saw what she was upset about.

"I'll pay for it, you can get anything you want."

"Are you serious?" she asked. Itachi nodded his head. Sakura was so excited that instead of forming as response she jumped on him and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. It wasn't until a few minutes later when people started to stare that Sakura pulled back and smiled at him before skipping into the closest store. Itachi smirked and followed her in thinking that he should take her shopping often in the future. Sakura made quick work of choosing clothes and headed for the dressing room with a pile nearly as tall as she was. Itachi waited for her on the seats outside of the dressing rooms before Sakura poked her head out.

"Do you want to see?" she asked.

"Well I am buying everything so I might as well." he replied

Only a few moments later, Sakura walked out in a new training outfit. She was wearing an off- the shoulder, long-sleeved, fishnet shirt under a red tank top along with her spandex shorts and ninja sandals. The routine came to be that for each outfit Itachi would nod his head yes or no and then Sakura would move onto the next outfit. So far Sakura had a good amount of training outfits that she could mix and match. Next she would start with formal attire for missions and any other special occasion seeing as a girl had to be prepared for anything. Walking out of the first store Sakura was stocked up on training and mission attire along with some casual civilian clothes.

All of the members met in the middle of the village for lunch and discussed what else needed to be bought.

"Now that I've stocked up on clothes I just need some more clay."Deidara announced.

"I have what I needed so I'll just go with Deidara. What about you Sasori?" Kisame replied.

"I don't need anything more."

"Well, I have almost everything I need. Now I just need toiletries and--"

"Do you really need that much stuff?" Kisame interrupted.

"A kunoichi must be prepared for anything and everything. Speaking of which, I need to pick up some new weapons, but before that, does anyone know where they sell lingerie here?"

"You know I don't really need my clay now..."

"Deidara. Shut up." Itachi growled.

* * *

Once she had bought some makeup and toiletries they made their last stop at the weapons store. The others were already there. They just watched her as she picked out a multitude of weapons. A katana that she could use as a chakra blade, kunai, shuriken, windmill shuriken, senbon, surgical equipment, medical scrolls, poisons, antidotes, herbs along with many other various items. Everyone had to help her carry her bags home.

"Sakura, why did you buy so much stuff?" Kisame asked annoyed.

"Well I'm going to be here for a long time and as I told you before, a girl needs to be prepared for every possible occasion."

"But of course!" he said sarcastically.

"Anyway, Konan is going to be here in a few days along with Zetsu" Itachi interrupted.

"Konan is coming!" Kisame exclaimed.

"We rarely see her" Itachi explained after seeing Sakura's reaction to Kisame's opinion on the news.

"Oh great, Pein told me I was going to meet her. I can finally talk to another woman!"

"Why can't you not talk to us, un?" Deidara asked, "Does my opinion mean anything to you? I feel so unloved!" Deidara cried with chibi tears streaming down his face.

"Of course I can talk to you guys but I can't talk to men about certain things"

Itachi rolled his eyes. What could she not talk to him about?

"Like what?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um...girl stuff."

_As if I'm going to tell him what women talk about…Sakura thought blushing._

* * *

A few days after the shopping trip Sakura awoke excited to meet Konan. However she was unable to leave the bed seeing as Itachi was lying with his head nestled into her chest.

Of course this resulted in Sakura blushing and trying to quietly push him off without disturbing him. Unfortunately for her, Itachi was a light sleeper and was immediately aware of what his lover was doing.

"You're not getting away that easily." He mumbled. " You are not leaving this bed until I'm ready to let you go."

"Itaaaachi!" She whimpered giving the Uchiha puppy eyes in hopes that he would let her go.

"HN!" His grip only became tighter as he pulled her into his chest.

* * *

After another hour Itachi finally let his victim go so she could meet Konan and Zetsu.

"Sakura these are the other members." Pein stated before walking across the room to talk to Itachi, without introducing the woman next to him.

Sakura's jade eyes immediately went to the beautiful woman in front of her. The leader's wife had long blue hair, adorned by a paper flower, that flowed down her back. Sakura could easily see a ring on the woman's finger with the kanji for blue carved into the sapphire stone after the woman had abandoned her cloak.

"I'm sorry but my husband has forgotten his manners, I am Konan. It is nice to meet you Sakura-chan. I am so happy that there is another woman joining the Akatsuki, living with all these men is well…you know."

Sakura laughed. "I completely understand what you mean. It is a pleasure to meet you Konan-sama."

"Oh please call me Konan, Sakura-chan! I just hate formalities! Unlike my husband I am a little more down to earth, if you know what I mean."

_So, even his wife makes fun of the fact that the man thinks himself a god Hehe._

In the meantime, Pein had walked over to Itachi. He had heard about Itachi's relationship with Sakura.

"I don't think that I will ever be able to understand women." He said watching the two kunoichi break out into laughter.

"No man does, shinobi or not. I've just stopped trying." The rinnegan user replied, keeping an eye on his three month pregnant wife.

Konan and Sakura were in the corner talking excitedly about their men.

"So what is Itachi like when you're with him? He's always so serious when I see him."

"He is very gentle but can be downright possessive. Especially in the mornings; he won't even let me leave the bed. I have noticed that he's been getting a very protective of me…..particularly when other men look at me. It's like the man thinks I'm going to leave him or something."

"Really?! He does seem the type to be a bit possessive. But he honestly won't even let you leave bed?" They looked over at him and laughed. He raised an eyebrow. "Leader-sama, what do you think they're talking about?"

"I think it may have something to do with us since they keep looking over here and giggling."

"What about you and Pein?" Sakura asked.

"Oh he looks scary, but he's such a sweetheart. He was so excited when he heard that I was pregnant. I have honestly never seen him as happy as the moment I told him that he was going to be a father."

"I guess you can't judge a book by its cover," Sakura murmured glancing over at the powerful man, "How did you two meet?"

"We were childhood friends. Both of us lost our parents in the Rain's civil war and we had to work together with our friend Nagato to survive. Nagato died while trying to protect me and ever since then it was always me and Pein." Konan seemed to be lost in her memories before she continued, "He asked me to marry him when we were eighteen. Pein wanted to start Akatsuki to rid the world of pain and suffering from wars and he wanted me to follow him. He was god and I was his angel."

"THAT IS SO ROMANTIC!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Oh kami, don't tell me she is telling Sakura that story! " Leader pleaded sweat-dropping.

Itachi just looked at Pein like he was crazy. All the other members were wondering what leader was so embarrassed about.

Seeing as the men were awful at cooking it became Sakura and Konan's duty to get dinner ready. While in the kitchen the two kunoichi continued to share stories including the time when Tobi gave all the members valentines (1). Konan had never laughed so hard in her life. Pein had never told her of Tobi's discovery of the holiday. The female members decided to make some sushi for dinner with a side of miso soup and some green tea.

Walking into the dining room the women found the rest of the Akatsuki looking at the food like raving dogs ready to rip the food into shreds.

"YES! I love sushi!" Kisame yelled baring his sharp teeth.

"But Fishy-chan won't you be eating your family? I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff…" Sakura exclaimed.

"I'M NOT A FISH, DAMN-IT!"

By this time everyone was laughing including Itachi who let an amused chuckle escape. Deidara was rolling around on the ground, clutching his stomach, as tears poured down his cheeks because he was laughing so hard.

Eating their meal with much laughter, the members talked well into the night until everyone became too tired and went to bed.

Sakura had been staying with Itachi in his room since the first night she slept with him. He had pretty much demanded that she move everything into his room because in his opinion, "you are going to be with me every night so you might as well just bring all of your belongings here." Of course he said this in his don't-argue-with-me-we-all-know-I'm-right tone.

Sakura knew that things were moving a little fast, but she couldn't help falling for him. Itachi was so different from what she had heard about him. He was always so gentle with her, completely different from when he was around the other members. Sometimes when men were around, both the other members and men in the village, Itachi would become possessive of her but she knew it was his way of letting other men know that she was taken.

However, even the other members could tell that he was more relaxed when she was with him. His shoulders weren't so tense and whenever he looked at her his gaze softened. No one would dare to point this out to him for fear of the Uchiha unleashing his wrath upon them though.

* * *

Team Kakashi and Team Gai gathered at the gates prepared to take leave.

"Alright everyone it's about time we go, we don't want to be late" Kakashi chided.

"Kakashi you're the reason why we are three hours late so don't even talk about time consideration." Neji replied stoically.

"Now come on it's not my fault that I saw an old lady who needed hel-

"SHUT UP KAKASHI-SENSEI! WE HAVE TO GO FIND SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed.

"IDEED YOU ARE RIGHT NARUTO-KUN WE MUST FIND THE LOVELY BLOSSOM OF KONOHA, ISN'T THAT RIGHT GAI-SENSEI"

"OF COURSE LEE YOU ARE MOST CORRECT SAKURA HAS INDEED BLOOMED INTO A-"

"GUYS COME ON ALREADY!!!!!!!" yelled Tenten exasperated.

Of course throughout this whole exchange Sai was just sitting there with that stupid fake smile on his face.

"Hey dickless shouldn't we go save ugly now from the freaks"

"SHUT UP PAINT BOY!"

"Now boys, let's not fight. Sai is right we do need to get going."

With that everyone took off into the trees; although, Naruto still continued to bicker with Sai about him not being dickless.

* * *

The bathroom door opened allowing steam to flow into the bedroom where Itachi was met with the sight of his lover stretched out on his bed in a lingerie set of black lace.

"Sakura" he growled. He had been craving her touch the entire day. She was like a drug, after the first taste he just wanted more. He was addicted to her; her scent, her smile, her lips, her voice, her skin…everything about her. Pulling him by the waistband of his pants Sakura led Itachi to the bed. She straddled him and as he went in to kiss her she put her finger to his lips, stopping him.

"Now, now Itachi don't be so hasty" she teased. The Uchiha's muscles flexed as she ran her delicate fingers along his abs. She proceeded to kiss along his toned chest until Itachi stopped her.

"Sakura" he said sternly. Itachi was about to lose his mind if she didn't stop teasing him. He needed her now.

Itachi flipped them both over onto the silk sheets with ease so he was on top. Ripping Sakura's panties off as she pulled his pants down to reveal his aroused member, the Uchiha thrust himself into her tight body, unable to control himself. As he finally filled her to the hilt they let out a satisfied moan simultaneously. He grasped her hips as she rocked into him and met her thrusts with his own sending himself deeper inside of her.

"Itachi, please!" Sakura begged. Itachi knew what she needed and was definitely not against complying with her demands. His thrusts became rougher as they both came close to release. Removing his lips from her neck he lifted his face and kissed her deeply, letting his tongue explore her mouth.

It felt so good. How did she do this to him? They were both starting to breathe heavily they wouldn't last much longer. Itachi could feel her walls become tighter around him. He thrust harder into her sex so as to bring her to her climax. She let out a scream, muffled by Itachi's mouth on hers as she finally released. Itachi gave a few more thrusts and followed panting for air, both of them covered in a thin sheet of sweat. He pulled his member from her slick folds and rolled off of her and turned to look at the wonderful woman next to him.

His eyes softened as he looked at her panting beside him and reached out to her, pulling her to his chest. "You are so beautiful" he whispered into her ear. She snuggled into him while he pulled the sheets up over them.

"I love you Itachi" she whispered, tracing his jaw with her finger. At first Itachi's eyes widened with surprise until he let a small smile come to his face. He answered her with a gentle kiss on the lips.

Sakura knew that Itachi loved her, but she also understood that it would take time for him to realize his feelings and admit them.

Watching her as she fell asleep he couldn't help but think of how precious she was to him. She was so perfect. How did he get so lucky? She accepted him for who he was. She didn't care that he was a murderer. She understood him. She loved him. After all the crimes he had committed the man knew that he didn't deserve her, but now that he had this angel, he was never going to let her go.

* * *

They woke up late in the morning and were about to make love again when her stomach grumbled. Itachi let out a deep chuckle while Sakura had tint of pink on her cheeks.

"I think you need some energy Sakura."

"Not as much as you're going to need later" she replied jokingly. After showering together and getting dressed he followed her as she went into the kitchen and reached into the cabinet for her cereal. It was one of her favorite things to eat. When she opened the box she found that it was empty.

"Who ate my frosted mini wheats?!" Sakura demanded. She heard a crunch and turned to find Tobi eating her cereal. "TOBI WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT EATING MY FROSTED MINI WHEATS?!!!"

"Tobi is a good boy?" he said unsurely

She punched him through the front door into a tree outside.

"Sakura now we have to buy a new door…again." Itachi sighed.

"Well Sakura it seems that you have quite a temper." Sakura turned to Pein still seething with anger.

"Itachi remind me to never get on her bad side"

"Hn"

"I'll make breakfast for everybody. You guys go sit down." She said calming down, a sweet smile adorning her face.

"Thank you Sakura-san" Leader replied a little disturbed by her mood swings.

Sakura quickly fixed a pot of miso soup, some broiled rice, and some grilled fish for breakfast.

"Sakura-san you are an excellent cook!" Konan exclaimed.

"Thank you, my mom taught me how to cook when I was a genin. Although, she told me to never cook like this on missions otherwise I would get stuck on kitchen duty."

"Your mother was very right to tell you that. Men always expect us to cook. They can be so lazy sometimes."

"I know what you mean."

"Oh I'm lazy am I?" Itachi asked his eyebrow twitching.

"Oh you're an exception, Ita-kun." Sakura said kissing his cheek.

"And what about me?" The leader asked his wife with an expectant look on his face.

"Nope you're just like the rest of them." His face dropped and laughter filled the kitchen. Konan merely told her husband she was joking, trying to reassure him with a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

They were free to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the week because once they got back to the base in Ame they were going to start missions.

"Sakura I have a surprise for you." Itachi said

"Really, what is it?"

"Come with me"

He led her through the forest. He covered her eyes with his hands and walked her to the place he wanted her to stand. He removed his hands and she gasped. There in front of her were tons of trees covered with cherry blossoms.

"Oh Itachi, it's beautiful" she whispered. She turned around and kissed him.

"Sakura, I want you to stay here with me."

"Of course I'll stay with you. I wouldn't leave you for the world. You're everything to me, Itachi."

Itachi sat quietly gazing out towards the trees,"…They are looking for you. They don't know that we took you but they will figure it out eventually. Sakura, can you really leave all that behind you; can you live without them?"

"I'll miss my friends and it's going to take me a long time to fully adjust but I have friends here too. Also, my being here is keeping all of Konoha safe, including my friends. I have you and you are the most important thing to me. "

He kissed her gently on the forehead and held her as they watched the cherry blossoms move in the wind. They laid there for hours. Sakura loved nature. She loved being outdoors, especially in the spring when all the flowers were beginning to bloom. However, when dusk came they had to leave since the others would be wondering where they were. When they returned everyone was asking questions.

"Where were you two?" Kisame asked irritated.

"You were gone for the whole day, yeah!" Deidara exclaimed

"Sakura you can tell me." Konan cut in

"Sorry but this is our little secret." Sakura replied walking away, dragging Itachi behind her.

* * *

**Tbc………..**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**(1) There is a story on fanfiction by **_**firefly**_** called ****Inamorato ****that is completely hilarious. You have to read it. All about Tobi making valentines for all the other members when he finds out about Valentine's Day! This was her idea! Not mine. I just thought if would be a funny story about Tobi's ridiculousness. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay…you may now run me through with Sasuke's Kusanagi…It has been over a month since I have updated! I have plenty of excuses but I won't waste your time with them all. **

**Thank you for all the reviews. I got 18 for the last chapter and 20 for Chapter 6! I really appreciate everyone who took time to give me advice on the lemon and who commented on the chapters. I'm happy that you are all enjoying the story!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

Pein had been sending everyone in the organization on missions non-stop since they had all arrived at the main base in Rain.

Sakura, Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara were currently on a mission in Earth country, not too far from the border of Rain country. Pein was in need a scroll which contained important information on the a possible alliance between Rock and Mist which would ultimately end up in an all out war between the two shinobi nations Unfortunately, in order to get this scroll Sakura had to go undercover and seduce the target.

Let's just say that the Uchiha was not a happy shinobi at the moment. Kisame, Deidara and Itachi were all talking, while sitting in the dark corner of the bar in order to backup the kunoichi if the mission backfired. Well Kisame and Deidara were talking while Itachi was brooding. Sakura was currently sitting at the bar waiting for the target to arrive.

Their target was a Mist jounin. After interviewing some people, more like interrogating while using torture techniques, the group was able to find out that their target was going to make an exchange at this bar later tonight.

Sakura was silently observing the surrounding area when their target walked in. Kenzo was definitely handsome, more handsome than most of Sakura's previous targets, but definitely nothing compared to Itachi. He was tall, standing at about 6 feet, with dark brown hair and light blue eyes.

Kenzo immediately took notice of the petite kunoichi sitting alone at the bar when he entered the establishment and immediately made his way towards where she was seated. Sakura was definitely dressed to kill. She was currently wearing a thin strapped, skin-tight black dress that barely went to her mid thigh and also allowed for a nice view of her ample cleavage with long rosette hair flowing in waves down her back.

Itachi did not like how all the men in the bar were looking at his woman. Seeing the target walk up to her Itachi muttered under his breath, "Couldn't she have worn something a little less revealing?"

"Come on, Itachi, yeah. We all know that you wouldn't be complaining if she was wearing it with you. You're just jealous because she has to seduce some other guy."

"He's right you know…" Kisame added.

"Hmph" Itachi grunted, completely annoyed with the entire situation.

"If I didn't know you better, I would say you were pouting right now." Kisame said with a grin adorning his face.

Meanwhile Sakura was currently flirting with Kenzo, trying to get him out of the bar so they could kill him and get the scroll.

"So what's your name gorgeous?" Kenzo asked.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead opted to smile flirtatiously and answered, "Kiyomi. And yours?"

"My name is Kenzo. I haven't seen you around here before, are you new to the village? I'm sure I would have noticed a beauty like you." The man replied.

"Oh, I'm visiting a friend and helping out at the hospital, I'm not a med-nin though, I just work at the reception desk. Are you a shinobi?"

"Yeah. I'm a jounin. I'm on a mission right now actually."

"Oh. That is so exciting! I've always thought being a shinobi would be exhilarating! Can you tell me about it?" She asked

"Well I'm not really supposed to tell you this kind of information since it is privileged, but for you I'll make an exception." Kenzo replied, "However, I can't tell you anything here. Why don't we go to my hotel room for a little while…" he whispered dragging a finger up her thigh.

"Sure." Sakura replied breathlessly. As Kenzo turned leading the way out of the bar Sakura smirked and glanced towards the table in the corner, signaling to the others that she was leaving.

When she and Kenzo made it outside, the shinobi dragged her into an alley and pinned her against the wall before slamming his lips onto hers. Although Sakura was disgusted she responded to his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck, while pretending to moan. Kenzo smirked against her mouth and started to move his hands under her skirt, touching her inner thigh.

Itachi and the others were watching from the building above as Sakura made out with Kenzo. Itachi was getting pissed. His knuckles were white and he had blood dripping onto the ground from clenching his fists so hard.

However, just after Kenzo let his guard down Sakura used her arms that were wrapped around him to snap his neck. The target fell to the ground dead. Sakura leaned her head against the wall as she fixed her dress. The others jumped down to the ground as she quickly unsnapped one of the pockets of his vest and took the scroll. Checking to see that it was the right one Sakura quickly gave the scroll to Itachi as Kisame and Deidara got rid of the body.

"God I hate doing those missions" Sakura said with a tone of disgust, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. The second Deidara and Kisame were gone, Itachi pinned Sakura to the same wall she was pinned to not five minutes ago and proceeded to ravage her mouth with his own. He always did this when he got jealous to show her that she belonged to him. Sakura didn't mind his possessiveness, although it did get annoying from time to time. It was just Itachi's way of showing that he cares. He just didn't want to lose anyone precious to him again.

Sakura let out a moan as Itachi sucked on her tongue, and was about to retaliate until she heard a coughing noise.

"Uh, can you two get a room, yeah! Geez, I swear you two can't keep your hands off each other for ten minutes."

"hn"

"Leader is going to be upset if we don't get back as soon as possible." Kisame put in.

"Whatever, let's get going then." Sakura replied before attempting to jump into the trees, an attempt that ended in failure due to the clingy dress she was wearing.

"Uh Pinky…you might want to change out of that dress…"

"Damn-it! Stupid dress. I only have the clothes that I wore on the journey here and I didn't get a chance to wash them. I'd rather wear this than those dirty clothes. I guess I only have one option."

All the men in the group were shocked when the kunoichi bent down and preceded to rip slits in her dress up the sides so that she could move properly. Looking up to find her three teammates wide-eyed Sakura raised a slender eyebrow.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." They all answered at the same time. All of the Akatsuki members jumped into the trees heading back towards the base. Itachi made sure that Deidara and Kisame were in the front so that they couldn't look at Sakura in her current state of undress.

Coming in the door all the other members looked to Sakura, noting her apparel. Hidan was about to make a comment, but was instantly stopped when he saw Itachi's glare.

Itachi leaned down and whispered in Sakura's ear to go back to their room to change, saying that they would wait for her before reporting.

Everyone waited until Sakura was on her way down the hall before speaking.

"So what happened to her?" Leader asked concerned about her torn clothing.

"Nothing, she tore her dress in order move easier on the way back. It was too tight for her to do anything but walk otherwise." Itachi answered.

"I see…So how did the mission go?" Pein asked.

"Fine, yeah. Sakura sure has talent in that area."

"Seduction or assassination?"

"Both. I sure wouldn't mind being seduced by that." Kisame replied bluntly

"I believe that we are here to talk about the mission not Sakura's skills as a kunoichi." Itachi snapped, glaring at Kisame.

"Of course, please continue." Pein replied, smirking at the Uchiha.

"We have the scroll. It seems that the Mist shinobi was supposed to exchange it with someone at the bar. Since the exchange won't be happening Rock will think that the deal is off so we have nothing to worry about." Kisame reported.

"Good. You are all dismissed."

* * *

Tsunade had called all of the shinobi off of the search for Sakura. They had not made any progress and the village just couldn't afford to have so many shinobi occupied on one mission that wasn't even bringing any money in.

Although Naruto and the others were reluctant to return, they understood that the village was the most important thing at the moment. They realized that unless they had some clue to go on they couldn't do anything to help their friend.

* * *

Three months later….

Sasuke was pissed. He and the rest of team Hebi had been searching for the past four months since Sakura's capture trying to find clues as to where the Akatsuki could possibly be.

It almost seemed as if they had disappeared. The organization seemed to be laying low for a while, doing missions that wouldn't allow them to be noticed or sticking to areas where they wouldn't be recognized.

Sasuke had to find Itachi. He had it all planned out. He would kill Itachi, make Sakura his wife and then he would rule over Sound as the Otokage with Sakura at his side and begin his family with her. She would give him what he needed. She was strong and beautiful and in love with him, what more could he want. She would be his and Itachi would be no more.

* * *

Waking up on a rare sunny day in Rain, Itachi was startled when he noticed that Sakura had left a clone in her place.

"Clever little minx."

Itachi quickly destroyed the clone with a tap to the neck and got out of bed in search for his kunoichi. He discovered her in the kitchen cooking breakfast for everyone.

Sakura was currently chopping up some fruit as she wondered about the Uchiha's reaction to her clone this morning. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she felt to strong arms wrap around her waist as she was pulled back into the warm, muscled chest of her lover.

"Did you like the present I left you?" she asked

"No, you should know better than to try to sneak away from my bed. I like waking up to you in the morning." Itachi replied ghosting light kisses across her slender neck.

"hmmm." Sakura purred. The two were so caught up in the moment that they didn't notice the other members in the doorway until Deidara decided to break the silence, "I'm telling you, they can't stay away from each other for ten minutes, yeah!"

Sakura brushed of the comment before asking, "So anyone up for my famous breakfast?"

Succeeding in changing the subject Sakura went on to finish setting the table and bring out the dishes for everyone. Leader had informed Kisame and Itachi that they were to meet in his office after breakfast for a mission.

Of course this left Sakura on her own for a few days with nothing to do but train and wait for Itachi to come back. It was a weird for her to not have Itachi around. There had been times when she had been on missions with other members but during those situations she was too preoccupied with the mission to even think about missing Itachi. Now she had nothing to take Itachi off her mind.

The worst was at night when she couldn't feel his warmth surrounding her. She felt vulnerable, something she had never felt when she was with Itachi. He always made her feel safe because she knew that Itachi would always protect her. Sakura soon grew tired from the emotional exhaustion and fell into a dreamless sleep which was soon to be interrupted.

* * *

Hinata had noticed that her boyfriend had not been the same these past few months. Sakura's capture had hit him hard. There were times when he would come to her room in the middle of the night in tears and she would hold him and comfort him and tell him how much she loves him until he would fall asleep.

Naruto was not the only one affected even if he was one of the people hit the worst. Kakashi was another example. Having another teammate that he had sworn to protect taken away from him was a harsh blow to the copy-nin. Even Ino was quieter. The blonde tried to hide it behind a bright smile but everyone could see the pain in her eyes.

The Hyuuga heiress had become close to the female member of team 7 over the years. Sakura was the one that gave her the courage to express her feelings to Naruto. Sakura also helped her gain some confidence in her own abilities. She owed a lot to the pink haired kunoichi.

_Poor Sakura... She doesn't deserve this. After everything that has happened why does she always have to be the one to suffer? _

* * *

Sakura was woken up from her peaceful slumber by a rough hand shaking her awake.

"Wha?" she mumbled sleepily.

Sakura blinked a few times before looking up to see the worried face of Kisame.

"Oh. You're back! Where's Itachi?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"Sakura, Itachi needs medical attention now!" Kisame burst quickly, dragging her out of bed. Sakura quickly grabbed her medical kit and ran behind Kisame to Itachi's room.

Passing through the doorway Sakura was met with the sight of the Uchiha laying on the bed ,pale and covered in blood, from the huge wound in his chest.

"What the hell happened, Kisame?!"

"It was the Uchiha brat. He caught Itachi off guard with one of his attacks."

Sakura quickly went to work, cleaning the wound the best she could and giving Itachi some sedatives to help with the pain. Soon a pale glow washed over her delicate hands as she began to heal the wound. All the while Sakura kept thinking, 'don't die, don't die, don't die,' repeating the mantra over and over again. She couldn't lose Itachi. The kunoichi pushed her chakra to the limit to save him. After hours of healing without a break, Sakura's chakra reserves were dwindling. She was almost there. She couldn't stop now.

All of the other members had gathered in the room to watch Sakura work. They were amazed at her abilities. Only the best medic could heal a wound like this so quickly. It would normally take days what Sakura did in a few hours. However, they could all see the toll it was taking on the petite medic. Her chakra started to fade before flickering out. She was unconscious before she fell into Deidara's arms.

* * *

**TBC….**

**Alright that is chapter 8. Sorry for the long wait. I hope you liked the little touch of NaruHina I snuck in this chapter. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW! I want at ****least**** 20 reviews if not more! I really do appreciate all of your opinions!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! Thanks for the whopping 24 reviews last chapter! I really appreciate everyone's support! However I did get one review from a person I will not name:**

If you can't spell any of the Japanese language words, don't use them it's a disgrace.

**Although they could have criticized my spelling in a nicer way, I do want to apologize to anyone who was offended. Keep in mind this person reviewed on the first chapter and I wish they had read further before reviewing. I went back and fixed the mistakes on the spelling in chapter one and plan on doing it for the other chapters as well.**

**Also in the future I would really appreciate it if everyone could please tell me AND give me the correct spelling. How can they expect me to improve if I don't know what Japanese words I miss-spelled? I did my best on correcting any errors but please realize that I am not a mind-reader or a person who knows much Japanese besides a few words here and there. Thank you!**

**Sorry about that! On with the story! WARNING!: HUGE ASS Spoiler! Read Manga chapters 399-402 (I think that's right) before reading this chappie!**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 9**

_Recap:_

_All of the other members had gathered in the room to watch Sakura work. They were amazed at her abilities. Only the best medic could heal a wound like this so quickly. It would normally take days what Sakura did in a few hours. However, they could all see the toll it was taking on the petite medic. Her chakra started to fade before flickering out. She was unconscious before she fell into Deidara's arms. _

Carrying her unconscious form Deidara couldn't help but feel warmth towards the kunoichi. She always was one to put others before herself.

_Itachi doesn't deserve someone like you…but I guess none of us deserve someone like you _

Walking into her room Deidara laid the chakra depleted kunoichi gently on the soft mattress before covering her with a blanket. The blue-eyed shinobi then bent down and left a kiss on the kunoichi's forehead before turning and leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

* * *

Neither, Sakura nor Itachi woke up the next day. They both were in need of rest in order to replenish their chakra. Most of the members were worried about the two. Tobi kept running around screaming "Senpai is Sakura okay?" every five seconds until everyone eventually got so fed up with his yelling that they tied him to a chair and knocked him out.

* * *

Onyx eyes opened slowly. Itachi could feel the remnants of Sakura's chakra in his body meaning he was now most likely in his personal quarters. The Uchiha found it odd that Sakura was not in bed beside him, but assumed that she had already awakened hours earlier. After showering and dressing the powerful shinobi started to walk down the hall hoping to find his lover in the kitchen. He had missed her. She was steadily breaking down the walls he had built so long ago with her smile and loving emerald eyes. Itachi had always been a quiet, secretive individual and had never trusted a single person enough to open his heart to them, but then he had met Sakura and everything had changed.

His thoughts were taken from him when he walked into the kitchen and was was confused when he noticed the absence of the kunoichi that occupied his mind.

"Where is Sakura?"

Deidara was the first to respond and before anyone could stop him he started to yell at the Uchiha, "She's in her room, unconscious no thanks to you! She used up almost all of her chakra because you-"

Deidara was cut off when Sakura walked into the kitchen. She had obviously just woken up judging by her attire of only a large t-shirt and the way her long rosette locks hung messily over her shoulders.

"What is all of this yelling about? Did Tobi flush the toilet while someone was in the shower again?" she asked tiredly.

"No, pinky, Deidara was yelling at Itachi about you using all your chakra to heal him" Kisame informed.

"Sakura-chan, I thought you were still unconscious, yeah!"

"Deidara, I am a medic. I heal at a faster rate than most people not to mention the fact that I was only suffering from chakra exhaustion. And it was my choice to use all of my chakra, not Itachi's"

"Well it is his fault that he was injured in the first place. He got distracted when he was fighting that brat of a brother of his because of something the kid said about-" Kisame stopped talking the second that he saw Itachi's death glare.

"What did he say, Kisame?" Noticing he was not answering she looked to the direction of the shark-nin's gaze. Sakura was met with the image of her lover whose face held a glare that could kill someone ten times over. However, the second Sakura turned to him; Itachi had an indifferent look on his face.

"Itachi, I demand that you tell me what happened!"

"No"

"Tell me"

"No"

"Damn-it! Itachi tell me or so help me you will be sleeping on the couch!"

"…" Itachi's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"Fine, but I will find out sooner or later. I'm going to make breakfast. Go wait in the den"

They could all tell that she was in a pissy mood and decided to obey her every command so as not to face her wrath.

"Man Itachi it must've been pretty bad if you're willing to give up sex, hmm"

"…" While Itachi didn't say anything out loud… _She's not really serious about that is she?... no of course not…and besides I can last longer than she can. She won' t even last a week, especially since I just came back from a mission. _

Thoughts of his latest mission filled his mind. They were on their way back to the base when they encountered Sasuke. The younger Uchiha was not accompanied by his team this time, and they would have made their escape had Sasuke not goaded Itachi into a fight by bring up Sakura.

_**Flashback**_

"_**I heard Sakura joined Akatsuki. What did you do? If you hurt her I will kill you!"  
**_

_**Itachi let out a deep, amused chuckle, "You truly are foolish, little brother. It is too late! You had everything you needed right in front of you and yet you tossed it away for a past that is out of your reach!" **_

"_**You're wrong! I had nothing! You took everything from me!"**_

"_**Let me show you how wrong you are" Itachi's eyes met with his brother's**_

_Mangekyou Sharingan_

_"Tell me Sasuke...have you grown stronger?"_

_"I have filled every day of my life with my hatred for you and have trained for years just to kill you. I will have my revenge for what you did to the Uchiha clan."  
_

_ "You were so young that you didn't even know what was going on. You don't really know what happened that night nearly ten years ago" Itachi replied seriously, "Did you ever wonder why the older brother you admired so much killed the clan? Why I, the one that tried to get father to finally acknowledge you, decided to test my capacity? You relied on my telling you the truth. But how could I tell an eight year old a truth that he could not comprehend?"_

"…" _Sasuke was speechless. What was his brother trying to say?_

"_I will tell you why seeing as maybe now you will be able to understand how retched our clan was. Ever since the final battle between Uchiha Madara and the first Hokage the higher ups of the leaf village had been trying to isolate the Uchiha from the rest of Konoha. Why do you think that the Uchiha had their own district and their own line of ranking? It was because we were never thought of as true Leaf shinobi. We were tools for the leaf. Well, this made many of the Uchiha angry enough to plan a coup de at to take over the leaf. Our father was the head of operations for this take over. Do you know what this would result in? Do you? No you wouldn't. You were not alive during the times of war, but I was."_

"…_."_

"_I knew what would happen. The Uchiha would attack; therefore, they would weaken the leaf, leaving it open for attack from other shinobi countries. The result: another great shinobi war between the five great shinobi nations.__The council knew of the Uchiha's plans. They knew because I told them. It was my responsibility to tell them as a double-agent. While father thought I was spying for the clan, in actuality-"_

"_You were spying on the clan…"_

"_Correct, little brother. It wasn't soon after that I was ordered to kill them all."_

"…_if that is true,__ why didn't you kill me?" _

"…_because you were innocent. Mother was not supposed to die either, since she was against father's plans but she wanted to die with him. I had wanted you to become stronger so I gave the goal of revenge. I had always planned to die by your hand, but now...now I have someone that I need to live for... " _

_Sasuke couldn't comprehend what his brother was saying. No, it couldn't be true. That would mean that his brother had been lying to him all this time. All these years wasted. No…_

"_LIES THEY'RE ALL LIES! I don't believe you! You killed them because you wanted to test your capacity! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY MIND!"_

_**Breaking out the Mangekyou was a feat not heard of, but Sasuke had succeeded. Breathing heavily, Sasuke asked the question, "Why Sakura?"**_

"_**Akatsuki needed her; her medical skills are some of the best in the world."**_

"_**Tell me, Itachi, do you care for her?...Cause you should understand that she hates you. She has always loved me and always will love me."**_

"_**I heard quite differently when we met saying something along the lines of, 'like I would ever love a bastard like him. He left me on a fucking bench' yeah something along those lines," Kisame added, nodding his head. "There is also the fact that she is in love with Itachi so I seriously don't think you have a chance."**_

"_**Sakura will come with me. I will make her see you for who you really are. A manipulative, power-hungry monster. Who knows maybe you will kill her to see how powerful you are. But I won't allow you to kill her! She is mine!" **_

"_**I would never hurt her. And you will stay away from her. You already lost your chance Sasuke! She belongs to me!" Itachi struggled to control his rage.  
**_

"_**I will kill you if you try to take her from me, Sasuke."**_

_**The younger Uchiha quickly threw a kunai aimed for the point between Itachi's eyes. It was not even a centimeter away from it's target before Itachi caught the weapon swiftly between his fingers. **_

"_**Honestly, Sasuke, did you really think that such a basic attack could work on me. It is quite rude to make me talk to a clone. Don't you agree, foolish little otouto?" Itachi stated calmly before effortlessly stopping the leg coming from behind him.**_

**_"Sakura has always loved me Itachi. She is probably on with you because you remind her of me." Sasuke goaded._**

**_Itachi lost his sense of control at this point giving Sasuke an opening to use his Chidori. Itachi was able to stop Sasuke from going straight through him by grasping his arm, but he still acquired a serious wound to his torso._**

_**Kisame watched the fight thinking about what Itachi may have told the younger Uchiha while in the Mangekyou realm. Judging by the subject of the most recent exchange he could only assume that they were talking about Sakura. But there was something about their expressions that made him think that they were talking about a subject beyond Sakura's time at Akatsuki. **_

_**Going back to the battle the shark man noticed that Itachi was a little worse for wear. He could see that his partner was bleeding heavily, but wasn't too concerned about it until he saw the Mangekyou wielder struggling to stay on his feet. **_

_**Itachi was able to incapacitate his brother but not without his own injuries. His brother had grown strong and he was proud of him, but he was disappointed with the man that Sasuke had become. The older Uchiha didn't want to have to kill his younger sibling but he would do what he had to if it meant that Sakura was with him. However, if Kisame didn't get him to Sakura soon he would never be able to see his woman again. **_

_**End Flashback**_

_**

* * *

**_

Itachi would die before he let his brother or anyone else for that matter take Sakura from him. This woman had given him a reason to survive and granted him happiness in the horrible darkness that he existed.

All the other members knew better than to ask what happened between the two remaining Uchihas. They would just demand that Kisame tell them later when Itachi went to bed. It wasn't long after that they were all called into the kitchen by Sakura for breakfast.

Sakura was an awesome cook. There were times when even leader would come down from his dark-cave-of-an-office just so that he could eat her delicious food. This morning was one of those times. He, along with Konan, had come down for a taste of the kunoichi's fabulous breakfast.

"Sakura I need to speak to you after breakfast on a certain matter."

"Alright" she replied smiling.

"Leader's not going to hurt Saku-chan is he?" Tobi asked anime tears falling down his mask and jumping on leader.

"YOU IDIOT THIS IS A BRAND NEW CLOAK!" Leader yelled annoyed, hitting Tobi over the head.

"NOOOOOOOOOO, TOBI IS A GOOOOD BOY!" he yelled when leader continued to try to get him off.

However everyone forgot the outburst the second they heard Sakura's melodic laugh. She was laughing so hard that she had a small flush on her cheeks and tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Still laughing she tried talking, "You people-laugh-are so-laugh-ridiculous!" She burst out in new peals of laughter after seeing the looks on their faces.

" …And you call yourselves S-class criminals!" she burst out laughing again

They were all frozen eyes wide when everyone started laughing; although, Tobi, had no idea as to what was so funny he also started laughing hysterically. The Uchiha at the table was inwardly laughing, while outwardly, without anyone else noticing, he cracked a small smile seeing his kunoichi happy.

* * *

**TBC….**

**Okay! I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I worked pretty hard on it, especially with trying to sneak some of spoiler in there. ANYway, Happy Birthday Ita-kun! His B-day was June 9 in case you weren't aware!**

**PLEASE READ! **

**FROM NOW ON I WILL BE POSTING AN'S ON MY PROFILE. THIS WAY YOU CAN LOOK AT MY PROFILE TO SEE WHEN I WILL NEXT UPDATE! **

**I LOVE YOU ALL!**

**Okay! Lets shoot for 25 reviews this time. I got 24 reviews for the last chapter I know you can do it! I really do appreciate it when people tell me what they think. **

**Thanks! Madjane**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

This would be the second time that Sakura had stepped foot into the Leader's office. It was still as orderly as last time; the only difference being that Konan was standing behind Pein's chair.

Sakura was somewhat nervous. _Please don't tell me that he has decided to keep hunting Naruto!_

Pein could see Sakura's anxiousness and decided to reassure her, "I did not intend to worry you. I only asked you here so as to give you your next assignment. You, along with Itachi, will be heading to Lightning Country. The objective is to assassinate a daimyo in Cloud who has been leaking information about the Akatsuki. He must be dealt with. It should take you about five days to get there so I suggest you leave tomorrow. I will expect you back in no more than two weeks time."

He handed the mission scroll to Sakura which included the exact location of the daimyo's residence and various details of the mission.

"That is all." Pein gestured towards the door. The kunoichi took the hint and left the room thanking kami that her visit was only for a mission briefing.

* * *

_What is taking her so long? She went up to Pein's office over half and hour ago. She should be back by now. I guess I'll go-_

Itachi was about to depart from the room to search for her when the door opened allowing the shinobi to see his kunoichi walk into the room. She immediately began explaining the details of the mission to the Uchiha.

"Alright so I'm thinking that we should leave in the morning to get an early start and..." Itachi had already stopped listening to her after she said it was a mission that Kisame would not be accompanying them on.

So…a two-week mission with Sakura…just him and her….alone. This will be fun, Itachi thought. He had to suppress a smirk.

"-achi? Are you listening to me?" Sakura asked irritated.

"Hn."

"Fine. In case you didn't hear me, we leave tomorrow at seven. I'm taking a shower"

"Ca-"

"and no, you cannot join me! Kami! Is sex all you ever think about?" Itachi opened his mouth to reply but was cut off, "Don't answer that." She sighed and then proceeded to slam the bathroom door.

_Well it looks like she is still upset over the whole Sasuke situation. _

Itachi could hear the shower turn on and the soft rustling of clothes falling to the ground. The picture forming in his head definitely wasn't an innocent one. Remembering the memories of when he had taken showers with her flooded his mind. Her standing under the shower, looking at him with lust filled orbs, allowing the warm water to run over the delicate features of her face, glide down over her soft lips, swollen from his passionate kisses, the smooth tender skin of her neck, his favorite place to mark her, before traveling further until-

"Damn-it" He muttered. She wasn't even in the same room and yet she could still do this to him. Itachi knew that if Sakura came out of the shower only to find him with a hard-on she would be pissed, especially after her comment earlier about how he only thought about sex. Of course she was completely wrong. The only reason he was focused on the idea of sex at the moment was because he hadn't seen her in over a week and he missed her and wanted to be close to her; not that he would ever mention that to her. Itachi just happened to be more of a man of action and had trouble expressing his thoughts verbally. He didn't like waking up in the mornings when he couldn't feel her warm, soft body pressed up against his own. The Uchiha had hardly slept for the whole of the mission, leaving him exhausted from the lack of proper rest. He didn't want to tell her about his encounter with his younger brother but he also didn't like her being upset with him. He was so caught up in thinking of a way to have Sakura forget about Sasuke that he didn't notice her walk out of the bathroom.

She noticed Itachi sitting on the edge of the bed his elbows resting on his knees with his hands clasped in front of his face, a pose very similar to one she had seen the younger Uchiha make during her younger years. The Uchiha's midnight eyes had a far-away look to them as if he was thinking hard about something. It was the first time since he arrived back from his mission that Sakura was able to truly observe him. The lines on his face were deeper and his face was a little paler, indicating that he hadn't been getting the amount of rest needed. His body was tense, most likely from the stress of the last mission. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be distracted by something.

It wasn't until he felt the bed dip from the weight of Sakura sitting down next to him that Itachi acknowledged her presence. Just seeing her wide viridian eyes looking at him in concern made him relax slightly. She slowly lifted her hand up to his face tracing the deep lines caused by his stress. Deep onyx eyes closed slowly allowing long black lashes to brush against his cheeks. He allowed himself to unwind a little more letting her presence surround him completely. She sat up against the large pillows of their king sized bed and let Itachi settle his head in her lap. It wasn't long until the Uchiha finally fell into a peaceful sleep with her brushing her delicate fingers through his long raven hair.

* * *

It was during the early hours of the morning that the Sharingan user awoke. He found that his head was still resting in his kunoichi's lap and looked up to see her to still sound asleep. Carefully, the Uchiha eased himself into a sitting position, trying not to wake her before leaning forward and brushing a few stray rosette locks away from her face. Dark lashes parted slowly, blinking a few times, before opening completely to reveal two jade orbs staring intently into his onyx ones. He was rewarded with a sleepy smile before the kunoichi leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

She pulled away quickly not wanting Itachi to try to take advantage of the situation. Looking at the clock on the dark oak bedside table she noticed that they had just enough time to pack and eat breakfast before leaving for the mission. Itachi, understanding her thoughts, started to get out of bed and grab the necessities they would need on their trip before sealing them into a scroll. Not only would this allow them to bring more items, it would also let them travel faster. Dressed for travel the pair left their room walking down the dark hallway, lighted only by the dim lamps that hung down from the stone ceiling every fifteen feet or so, until they reached the kitchen. They were the only two who were awake during the dawning hours seeing as most of the members didn't usually wake up until nine or later. After eating a quick and nutritious breakfast, made by Sakura, the couple headed out of the base in Ame Rain and headed towards the border of Grass. They planned to stay out of Fire country as they were most likely to be recognized there and chose to travel a few miles outside of Fire territory for the duration of their journey. Consequently, the journey would take much longer, but they would at least be able to avoid confrontation with Konoha shinobi.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Konoha shinobi had just received a lead on the whereabouts of a pair of Akatsuki members that were sighted in Fire Country. A monk from the Fire Temple had come stumbling into the Hokage's office and reported that the two Akatsuki members had attacked the temple, himself being the only survivor. Tsunade took immediate action and sent a group of four shinobi to apprehend the two S-class criminals. This group consisted of Izumo, Kotetsu, Shikamaru, and Asuma as the captian of the squad. Ten more squads were sent in separate directions so as to force the Akatsuki to stay within the borders of Fire Country.

Figuring out the correct coodinates, Asuma's squad was able to intercept the two unknown members.

"Geeze, what took you so damn long, seriously?" Hidan turned around, but instead of seeing his money-obsessed partner, he was met by the sight of a Konoha shinobi charging towards him. Distracted by the man in front of him, Hidan failed to notice to two chuunin on either side of him. His failure to observe his surroundings resulted in him being run through through with weapons that looked like large kunai. The Konoha shinobi were surprised of course when their opponent didn't drop dead from the fatal wounds.

"What the fuck is it with you Konoha shinobi! Fucking annoying, the lot of you! SERIOUSLY!"

"What are you talking about? This is the first time shinobi from our village have encountered you." Izumo questioned

"Wrong. That little pink-haired kunoichi is from Konoha isn't she? And she loves being a huge pain in my ass. Seriously."

"You have Sakura! What have you done to her?" Asuma yelled.

"Don't go pissin' your pants. I didn't touch her. That Uchiha would completely destroy me if I did. Can't have anyone touching his blossom, the bastard." The Jashin-worshipper sneered sarcastically.

"What do you mean _his_ blossom? Oh, you don't mean he…"

The Jashinist decided to take advantage of the situation,"Yeah, seriously. She's quite the screamer that kunoichi of yours."

All of the Leaf shinobi were completely shocked. "Sakura would never betray Konoha like that!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Hidan! What the fuck are you doing? We are not supposed to get involved with Konoha shinobi and Leader will already be pissed about the Fire temple." Kakuzu hissed.

"Come on, man! It's not like he has to know. Who is going to notice four missing shinobi?"

"Leader will. Don't forget the deal he made with that kunoichi. We aren't even supposed to be here in the first place."

"Fuck Leader. I want to kill this asshole."

Kakuzu finally consented to Hidan's request and decided that if his partner wanted to get into trouble with leader, so be it. He just didn't want to get involved. The only problem being that he had to interfere when his partner's head was cut off. Also, to make matters worse, Hidan only managed to fataly injure one shinobi before reinforcements came. Before they could finish the Konoha nin off Leader decided that it would be a good time to butt in tell them that they had to be present for the extraction of one of the bijuu, through their rings.

"We are in such deep shit." Kakuzu stated

* * *

Sakura and Itachi were just about to set up camp in Waterfall when Pein's voice entered their minds; telling them that they needed to extract the seven-tailed bijuu from a kunoichi from Waterfall. Everyone who had a ring was able to communicate with Leader, but only nine members were needed for the extraction. This fact was something Sakura was thankful for because it meant that she didn't have to be a part of the extraction. She had heard from Gaara the kind of pain that the container had to go through during the process, but she could not do anything to stop them. She was only a medic and had essentially started out as a captive.

"It's time for me to go."

"I'll go with you. I need to ask Leader something and you obviously won't be able to answer once in your meditative state."

"Hn."

Sitting down both members formed a long set of hand-seals before they suddenly appeared in front of the King of Hell statue. Sakura had never seen the statue since it had disappeared once her team had arrived at the extraction site in River three years ago. From her understanding, Leader was able to summon the statue; therefore, the statue could disappear at Pein's command.

All of the Akatsuki members were present with the exception of Konan seeing as she could not expend so much chakra in her condition. Tobi would be participating in the extraction in Konan's place. Pein was in a conversation with Sasori when Sakura walked up to him.

"Sakura, what are you doing here? You do realize that you are not needed for the extraction."

"Believe me I don't want any part of it. I just wanted to ask you something. I was going to try to finish healing Itachi's eyes during the extraction but I wanted to make sure that it was alright with you first."

"That is fine."

"So it won't interfere with the extraction process?"

"As long as it doesn't waste any of his chakra or strength I see no problem with it."

"Great. Thank you." Sakura smiled at Pein before disappearing from everyone's sight.

Pein was forced to tell Itachi of Sakura's plan seeing as the kunoichi had failed to mention anything to him. Therefore, the Uchiha was not caught by surprise when he felt her chakra delving into his own body. Itachi was unable to fully enjoy the experience of his lover's soothing chakra before Leader started off telling the other members of the zombie twins little excursion in Fire Country. He then proceeded to order everyone to keep this little incident a secret from Sakura. Itachi knew that if the Akatsuki went against Konoha she would leave him. She may love him, but she was not so selfish as to put love before the safety of her village and it's inhabitants. Itachi could only hope that she never found out, because if she did she would not hesitate to say good-bye. He knew it and everyone else in the vicinity knew it.

* * *

**TBC…**

**IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THIS FOR UNDERSTANDING**

**Okay, I know that this chapter was definitely not my best and was a bit short, but I wanted to give you guys something after all this time. **

**I had a ton of trouble with this chapter. I edited and re-edited. Over and over and over and over again. I re-read manga starting from the Asuma's death arc and decided to use it in the story. **

**I have re-arrange things. A LOT. Originally, Asuma was killed immediately following the capture of the two-tails. In my story he dies after the capture of the seven tails. The Akatsuki already have the first six tailed beasts. Apart from the timing the second Konoha/Hidan and Kakuzu fight will be the same. Some lines will be added and changed, but the result will be the death of those two Akatsuki members. I found that I they didn't really add much to the story and so I decided to kill them off...for now...i may revive Hidan later. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and your reviews really encourage me to keep writing. So PLEASE tell me what you think! (I might get the next chapter out faster if I get a lot of reviews *wink, wink***


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:I know that I promised an update months ago and I am so sorry for the long wait! I had lost interest in the story for a while and when I finally started writing the new chapter my laptop decided to crash on me and I lost everything. So here is the long awaited chapter!**

**CHAPTER 11

* * *

**

_This is soooooooo boring!_

Itachi was still in his meditative position and it was nearly noon on the third day. Sakura had finished healing his eyes the day before and was then left with nothing to pass the time besides observe the scenery. She was lucky that they had picked such a beautiful place to stop. They were currently located near a waterfall which was hidden in the forest of Waterfall country. However, the kunoichi soon grew restless and kept hoping the Uchiha would open his eyes soon. She wanted to witness his reaction to his once again perfect vision.

Another hour had passed before the raven haired Akatsuki member came out of his meditative state. He had to blink quite a few times in order to adjust to the brightness and clarity of the world that had before been so dull. His newly healed eyes took in all that was around him from the dew drops on the cool green grass, to the ripples moving across the water caused by the disturbance from the waterfall. At first Itachi had thought that he was in some sort of illusion but he unconsciously allowed a small smile grace his lips when he realized that he really was seeing the world as clearly as he did before he activated his doujutsu. After his initial observation of his surroundings, Itachi soon turned to the one who had made this reality possible. The only visible reaction one would see would be an acute widening of the Uchiha's eyes when he looked at her, truly looked at her, for the first time. He could see every detail so clearly.

Her hair, a light rosette, the same color as the spring cherry blossoms that once grew in the Uchiha Compound, fell smoothly down to the middle of her back in soft waves. A few strands had escaped from where she had tucked them behind her ear, falling lightly against her cheek. He had the strong urge to run his fingers through those strands to see if they felt as soft as they appeared. Her skin was lightly tanned from their travel in the sun allowing him to notice the light speckling of freckles across her nose and a small scar above her left eyebrow from what he assumed to be a past mission. However, it was her eyes that held his attention. Most people would say that Sakura's most defining feature was her hair, but Itachi disagreed. Those eyes, as cliché as it may sound, were the windows to her very soul, one could read countless emotions through those viridian depths. At the moment, with a soft smile upon the lips he so loved to taste, Sakura looked at him with such love in her eyes that he could hardly stand it. Why did she love him? He had forced this beautiful kunoichi, this woman who now loved him, to join his organization by threatening to harm the ones she held close to her heart. Deidara was right. He did not deserve such a gift. However, Itachi never claimed to be an angel, for he had chosen to be selfish. She was his now and he had no intention of letting this beautiful creature go.

Moving from her comfortable seat in the grass, Sakura quickly made her way over to Itachi wanting to make a final check and question the Uchiha on how his eyes felt. "Here, take this first. You haven't had anything to eat for three days." Sakura said, placing a soldier pill in Itachi's open palm.

Sakura questioned him as she allowed her chakra to enter his system once again, "Is everything working alright? Is your vision blurry at all? No irritation or itching?" She also observed his pathways as he changed between his normal vision and that of the sharingan and mangekyou sharingan.

She was about to speak yet again when she was interrupted by the Uchiha's lips claiming her own. She was caught off guard by the suddenness of the kiss but she soon relaxed and reciprocated her lover's affections. Itachi growled low in his throat, wanting more, having been deprived of his kunoichi for nearly three weeks. He pulled her onto his own lap with one arm secured around her petite waist as his other hand made its way into her long rosette tresses, deepening the kiss.

_So soft._ He thought.

Sakura moaned, her heart already beating faster, a light blush on her cheeks. She had missed this, this feeling of safety while in the arms of the strong shinobi before her. A small whine escaped her as he pulled away, but she was content as long as he continued to hold her so close to him.

"Thank you"

Amusement shone in Itachi's eyes as he saw the kunoichi, so distracted by their kiss, look back at him in confusion. A soft rose hue graced her cheeks as she realized that she had completely forgotten about Itachi's eyes when he had kissed her. She finally blessed him with a breathtaking smile. "I'm glad you're happy."

Itachi stroked a strand of her hair between his fingers and then moved to get up but looked at Sakura when she refused to move off his lap. "Can't we just stay here awhile?"

"No, we need to relocate as we have lingered in this territory for too long. I would also like to get a room for the night and the next town is at least a half days journey."

"Why do we need to get a room? I packed our sleeping bags in the scroll."

Itachi smirked, "Well I never figured you to be the kind of woman who liked to be intimate out in the open, but if you have no objections…"

The Uchiha didn't need to look behind him to know that his kunoichi was red in the face after his last comment.

"You-you pervert! I can't believe you—of course I want a room!" she yelled, her cheeks painted dark pink.

"Of course" he replied before walking in the direction of the village they were heading towards.

"Itachi! Wait!" the kunoichi exclaimed before running after him.

* * *

The extraction was finished now and most of the members were pretty exhausted.

"At least we weren't on a mission during the extraction. I hate having to take those soldier pills to restore our strength, yeah. Those things taste terrible, but now Sakura's not here to cook for us, yeah!" Deidara complained.

"She will be back in a couple weeks Deidara. You survived without her cooking before and you will have to survive without her cooking again." Konan replied, "I'll make something since Sakura is not here. Kisame you are helping."

"What! But I-"the shark-man was silenced by the glare leader sent towards him.

"Kisame would be happy to help." Leader replied

"Great!" Konan exclaimed happily, dragging Kisame into the kitchen.

Pein turned towards Hidan and Kakuzu. "I ordered you to not engage in any conflicts with Leaf shinobi, did I not?"

"yes."

"Then what the FUCK were you two doing in Fire Country?"

"Jashin needed me to sacrifice some people and the closest population was the Fire Temple near the border. So that went without a hitch until this guy," Hidan said gesturing to Kakuzu, "decided to collect a bounty for some guy from the temple. Then we ran into some leaf shinobi…"

"If the kunoichi finds out about this you two will be taking all the responsibility. At least they don't know for sure that we have her."

"Hidan all but showed them a picture and basically told them that she is sleeping with the Uchiha."

"We could use this to our advantage. This will make them think that she betrayed them. She will not be welcomed back, thus making this her only place where she will be welcomed. This could work out perfectly."

Hidan and Kakuzu sighed in relief thinking that they were safe from punishment. Granted that was before Leader cut Hidan's head off and cut Kakuzu's allowance in half.

"No one will mention what happened in Fire country to Sakura. We must wait for the opportune moment." Pein ordered.

* * *

"Someone will have to tell Kurenai."

The Hokage lifted her head from where it had been resting in her hands. It was times like this that she felt her true age.

"I will tell her-" she started.

"Please, Hokage-sama, let me be the one to talk to her."

Tsunade's amber eyes landed upon the shinobi standing in front of her desk. She gazed into his dark eyes so full of sorrow and understood. It would be best if Kurenai received the news from someone that was close to Asuma.

"Very well. Did you find out the reason why the Akatsuki were here?"

"It seems that they were not supposed to be in Fire country. The one with tentacles said that they were not supposed to engage Konoha shinobi and that they had defied their leader by attacking the Fire Temple. I …I also heard something that you may find shocking…"

"Get on with it!"

"It appears that Sakura made some sort of deal with the Akatsuki leader in return for the safety of the village and one of the members insinuated that she may having an affair with Uchiha Itachi."

"WHAT!"

* * *

**I know that this is extremely short but I thought this would be a good place to stop. I will try to update more frequently from now on. The next chapter will hopefully be at least 1,000 words longer a nice bit of lemony goodness included! I make no promises but I will try my best!**

**Thanks for reading, even if you don't review!**


	12. Chapter 12

Recap from the last chapter:

_"It appears that Sakura made some sort of deal with the Akatsuki leader in return for the safety of the village and one of the members insinuated that she may having an affair with Uchiha Itachi."_

_"WHAT!"_

* * *

"SHIKAMARU NARA IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE I SWEAR I-"

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama, do I really look like the kind of person who would invoke your wrath for something as stupid as a joke?"

The angry light from the busty woman's eyes diminished slightly, she finally sighed, shaking her head back and forth, "I-no you don't. I apologize for my outburst. What were the Akatsuki member's exact words?"

"He said something about Konoha shinobi being annoying, phrasing it in a way so as to insinuate that he had dealt with Konoha shinobi before and I know for a fact that this is the only reported interaction with these two particular members. When I asked him what he meant he mentioned a kunoichi whose description could only be that of Sakura due to the hair color described. When we asked about her health he said told us that Itachi Uchiha seemed to be particularly possessive of her and seemed to suggest that Itachi Uchiha and Sakura are in an intimate relationship."

Tsunade's eyebrow's were furrowed making her forehead wrinkle as she processed Shikamaru's report. "...It just doesn't make sense. Sakura has always loved Sasuke. And Itachi is the source of her love's pain along with the reason why Sasuke left her behind."

"We don't understand it either, but it seems too far-fetched for it to just be a means of provocation." Kakashi interjected. "She has been their captive for about four months. Who knows what they've done to her. It could be a case of Stockholm syndrome or Itachi could have placed her under an incredibly powerful genjutsu. Those are the only explanations I can think of offhand."

Tsunade sighed, "We need to get her out of there. Now. I can't afford to send as big of a group as last time. I will be sending Team Kakashi alone. Please find her and bring her back to us."

"Hai."

"Dismissed."

* * *

Kakashi was leaning against the gate door when Naruto and the others arrived, no Icha Icha book to be found which spoke volumes for how worried he was for his only female student. No one was smiling as they left the gates of Konoha behind. Even Naruto, who would normally be jumping for joy at the idea of going on an S-class mission was lacking that special light from his cerulean eyes. They were starting to lose hope that they would ever retrieve Sakura. They had been sent out so many times already without any luck, but their teammate needed them and they would not stop until she was safe and sound within Konoha's walls.

* * *

He was being selfish and he knew it. The plan had been sound, all the factors accounted for and yet he had failed. He had failed his brother completely.

_Sasuke._

He had wanted his brother to hate him and one day grow strong enough to kill him and thus become a hero in the eyes of Konoha, and eventually have a family to replace the one Itachi stole from him. Itachi had wanted Sasuke to find happiness. He thought his plan to be fool proof but he should have known how arrogant he was to think he could play God.

Sasuke had always been a bit of a spoiled child, innocent, and ignorant of how the world really worked. However, Itachi had wanted Sasuke to stay that way. Itachi didn't want his innocent baby brother to experience the things he had experienced, see the things he had seen. But through Sasuke's seven-year-old eyes Itachi was his skilled and respected older brother. Sasuke didn't seem to notice how weary Itachi always looked in those last couple years, how his eyes drooped with tiredness, or how the lines on his older brother's cheeks continued to grow deeper and deeper. Sasuke only thought about how cool his brother was for being an Anbu at such a young age and was persistent in his quest to be like his older brother. He had originally thought that this determination Sasuke possessed would help Sasuke grow stronger, but he underestimated just how determined his little brother was. Sasuke was supposed to stay within Konoha's walls, form bonds, and eventually become strong enough to kill him. However, Itachi had not even thought of factoring Orochimaru into the equation. He should have expected that Orochimaru, so intent on possessing the sharingan, would set his snake-like eyes on his little brother. He really should have killed Orochimaru when he had the chance. Itachi should have known that with Sasuke's determination to become strong enough to kill him would leave him an easy target for Orochimaru.

When Itachi had heard about the events that occurred during the Chunnin Exams he realized that he had made a mistake and went to Konoha as fast as possible to check on Sasuke as the Third Hokage was no longer alive to protect Sasuke from the other council members. However, due to his responsibilities as an Akatsuki member it took him almost a month to reach the Leaf Village. He had thought that after threatening the council with exposure if they hurt Sasuke and the support Sasuke had from his team that his brother was safe. Unfortunately, it was only a little while later that he learned Sasuke had defected from Leaf to be trained by Orochimaru. He had wanted to rush to Sound and knock some sense into that foolish brother of his, but there was still a chance that the plan could be salvaged. Surely once Sasuke had killed him he would return to Konoha and rebuild the clan with that kunoichi from his team.

When Itachi had seen Sasuke three months before as he was trying fighting his old team, he lost hope. Watching Sasuke's interaction with Team Kakashi had made Itachi regret his decision to allow Sasuke to stay with Orochimaru in Sound. This was not the sweet, playful child that he had given up his happiness for. It was only after seeing Sasuke's reaction to him kidnapping Sakura that restored his hope that Sasuke still had some goodness left.

Sakura. She was the second error in his plan. It was only after kidnapping her that everything really started to fall apart. Of course she didn't know this. But as much as he wanted to blame her, he was the one at fault. She was just being who she always was. He should have stayed away from her and not allow her to distract him from his mission. And it was in his second mistake that he realized his final blunder. His last mistake was that he forgot he was a man, a human being. He had so forgotten what it was like to share his thoughts with someone, to touch someone else, and want to be with another person. He was weak. He was supposed to die. That was the plan. Sakura was supposed to be with Sasuke, not him. But it was too late. He had already fallen for her and now he craved that feeling of warmth that formed in his chest when he saw her smile. He was possessive of her to a point that it was a weakness. He had had a moment of vulnerability when he last fought Sasuke, telling Sasuke the truth about the massacre after years of misleading him. Sasuke had called him a liar, which was expected, but there was a part of him that wanted Sasuke to know, to understand why he killed their parents. But if he did that his entire mission would have been a waste and if the secret was exposed Konoha would be torn apart from the inside. But Itachi didn't want to let her go. He was selfish and he knew it.

"Itachi?"

"Hn."

"You've been really quiet the whole trip here." They had just walked into an establishment in a small town on the border between Grass and Waterfall Country, hoping to rest for the night before continuing on to Lightning Country. They had to go the long way around in order to avoid Fire Country, for obvious reasons, which added a couple days onto their journey.

"..." Itachi had turned around to look at her and raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Am I not always quiet'

"You know what I meant, Itachi."

Itachi was silent, as if he was taking time to put together a response, "I am fine, just tired. The ritual always draws on a great amount of my chakra."

Sakura didn't believe him, but then again Itachi had always been a private individual and she would respect that by letting the topic drop.

"Well, at least now we have a place where we can relax." Sakura stated stretching her arms above her head, "I'm going to take a shower and then when you get out I'll give you a massage. How does that sound?"

"Hn."

"I swear one of these days I'm going to teach you how to speak. Maybe I'll get you a dictionary for your birthday." She giggled before shutting the bathroom door.

Itachi sighed, turning away from the door to observe the room he had rented for the night. He heard the shower start to run and decided to get more comfortable while waiting for Sakura to finish up. A shower sounded really good at this point. While sleeping out of doors and going for days in a row without a proper shower was standard in the life of a shinobi, it didn't mean that he particularly enjoyed it. he laid his cloak over the desk chair and then proceeded to go around the room to make sure everything was secure, going as far as putting traps on the windows in order to deter any possible enemy ninja who might try to attack them. The probability of this actually happening were ridiculously low, but Itachi's cautiousness had saved his life on more than one occasion.

Not fifteen minutes later did Sakura exit the bathroom, hair still damp letting Itachi take his turn. Despite the fact that Itachi clearly enjoyed seeing Sakura walk around in nothing but the hotel towel, his need for a shower over-powered his want to take Sakura against the wall. They had all night. Itachi smirked, closing the bathroom door and quickly disrobing before stepping into the hot stream of water. He very nearly groaned. He placed his right hand against the shower wall leaning forward, allowing the water to flow through his dark raven hair weighing it down. He stood there for a few minutes savoring the feeling of the water pounding on his tense shoulders. Afterwards he quickly washed before getting out of the shower, tying a one of the white bath towels around his waist as he left the bathroom.

* * *

It took Sakura a moment to look up when she heard the bathroom door open. When she did her mouth went dry at the sight before her. He was leaning against the bathroom doorway with his arms crossed as he observed her, eyes filled with amusement at her expression. His hair hung loose upon his shoulders, still damp. He walked towards her slowly, easily closing the distance between them until he was standing less than a foot from her. She watched as a drop of water fell from one of his bangs before travelling down his neck, over his chest until rolling down his abs. She swallowed before realizing that she had been oogling her lover for about two straight minutes. She already knew before actually seeing it that Itachi had a smug smirk on his face.

She somehow managed to glare at him even with the bright red blush on her cheeks, "What?" she huffed angrily.

"Nothing." She could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Just lie down on the bed on your stomach."

"Hn." He went over to the bed, lying down. When Sakura straddled his thighs he tensed, a natural reflex from all of his years as a shinobi. Sakura knew how cautious Itachi was and the fact that he trusted her enough to expose his back to her and let his guard down around her put a smile on her face. She had some oil in her pack that she had brought with her. She spread it along his shoulder blades trying to get the knots out of his back.

"Itachi, you really need to relax more, I think you have about ten different knots in you back. How do you function being this tense all the time?"

His response was somewhat muffled by the pillow his head was resting on, "It's a necessity to always be alert and aware of one's surroundings as a shinobi."

"Yeah, yeah, but you seriously need to learn to relax a little bit more. You'll end up hurting yourself if you push yourself too hard and then I have to be the one to heal your ass!"

"What does my ass have to do with anything, Sakura?"

She blushed as she could practically hear him smirk. "I-uh..." Itachi chuckled, startling the kunoichi. She didn't hear him chuckle very often and the sound always did something to her insides. She didn't think that her face could grow any redder.

They fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by small grunts made by Itachi in response to what she was doing. Itachi felt the skin of Sakura's bare thighs brush against his outer thighs as she moved forward and back. She was only wearing one of his t-shirts which due to their size difference fell to her mid thigh. The feeling of her touching him was slowly but surely arousing him. It had been a while since he had last been able to be alone for the night with her like this. When it got to the point that Itachi could not take it anymore he turned around, startling his kunoichi who shrieked and moved to get up. She would have succeeded if not for the strong hands of her lover holding her hips, barring her from escape.

"Where do you think you're going? Hmm?"

The sound of his voice, deeper than normal due to his desire for her that she could clearly see in his eyes, made a light dusting of rose touch her cheeks.

_I swear if he makes me blush any more, I'm going to faint from all of the blood rushing to my head._

He reached up moving a lock of damp hair out of her face before he slid his hand around the back of her neck pulling her down to him for a passionate kiss. She responded immediately, parting her lips to allow his tongue to enter. She tried to gain the upper hand, but lost, letting Itachi dominate the kiss. He never was the type of person to give someone else control. This was further proved when he flipped them over so he was on top of her.

"Itachi!" she moaned, "Why do you always get to be on top?"

He raised an elegant eyebrow at her, "Fine."

He rolled over again so that she was on top straddling him. She very nearly blushed again and had to keep herself from whimpering when she felt his clear desire for her pressing against her core. Itachi sat up, his muscles rippling at the movement, and slid his hands under her shirt lifting it up and over her head. He was pleased to see that she had not even bothered to put on a bra. Sakura wrapped both of her arms around his neck and crushed her lips onto his. He rested his hands on her hips as her responded to the kiss allowing her to be in control this once before brushing his fingers across her abdomen. While she was still preoccupied with placing kisses along his neck, Itachi slid his hand down her panties eventually getting to her secret place. He very nearly groaned when he felt how wet she was. He slid a finger into her warmth, making her gasp sharply before letting a whimper escape from between her fully swollen lips. He slid in another finger, moving them faster and faster until Sakura started trembling, so close to finishing.

"Kami, Itachi, please! I can't-need-inside-please!" she panted.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, you're going to have to be more specific" He smirked, voice smooth as velvet, slowing down the movement of his fingers before curling them hitting that spot that made her go absolutely mad.

" Ah hah ah, Ita-ah, you jerk!" she pleaded.

"Say it." he growled.

"I want-whimper-you inside-ha NOW!"

"Good enough." he replied ripping her panties before entering her. Both gave a mutual groan as he was fully consumed by her warmth. Itachi laid back on the bed leaving Sakura in her earlier position, straddling him. He rubbed circles in her hip urging her to set her own pace. She rocked against trying to get used to the position before pushing herself up before impaling herself upon him. She started to become accustomed to the position and soon set a faster pace, Itachi helping her stay balanced with Itachi eventually became impatient and took full control, his calloused hands gripping her hips hard enough that she would probably have bruises later, before slamming into her so hard and fast that Sakura was doing all she could to hang on to him. He had moved her into a position that allowed him to hit that secret spot,

"Right there, Itachi, ah, ha, don't stop!" she yelled.

Her walls started pulsating around him a sign that she was close. Itachi kept thrusting up into her warmth. The pleasure she felt was overwhelming, her eyes rolling back into her head at the delicious feeling as she felt her lover release inside of her. She fell on top of him exhausted from the activity, both panting as they came down from their high. Sakura looked crawled up his chest, leaning up to leave a lingering kiss on his lips before tucking her head under his chin. Itachi wrapped his arms around the curve of her waist securing her to him before finally falling asleep.

* * *

It was early in the morning, the sun only just rising, but Itachi was already awake, watching as his lover slept. He was careful not to wake her as he brushed his fingers against her cheek, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear. It turns out that he was not as cold-hearted as everyone had previously thought. He should have realized that people were unpredictable and were not as easily moved as pieces on a chessboard. He had tried to play God and failed. For the first time in his life since the council ordered the massacre of his clan, Itachi didn't know what to do. He didn't want to let her go but what about Sasuke?

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Sakura's thick black lashes slowly part, revealing deep emerald eyes before she stretched, her back arching up off the bed making the sheets fall around her waist, a view that he thoroughly enjoyed.

And as he looked into Sakura's viridian eyes so openly filled with love for him, and kissed those lips that rubbed against his own so deliciously, he didn't care that his plan was falling apart. He was going to be selfish just this once.

* * *

**So it was much longer as promised! I'm not to sure about the lemon, I had a lot of trouble with it but it was the best I could do! Thanks for reading even if you don't review! (but seriously let me know what you think! :)**

**butterflies of purgatory**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to everyone for reviewing, favoriting, or adding this story to their alerts list!**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"Sakura is going to find out about the altercation Hidan and Kakuzu had with the Leaf eventually. When that happens we will have to act quickly. Unfortunately, Itachi will most likely not take our side on this. I'm hoping that his need to protect his brother will outweigh his feeling for her, but he has been unpredictable in the past. If it becomes apparent that he will not stay loyal to the Akatsuki he will have to be dealt with."

"Can we afford to lose him? He's a valuable asset to the organization."

"The Kyuubi is more important. Without the Kyuubi our plan cannot be set into motion. Is the contact enroute to meet the Konoha shinobi?"

"Yes. They should end up meeting in River country in a day or so."

"Good. We need to make sure that Konoha knows where the kunoichi is so we can lure them into our trap. My hope is that Sakura's betrayal will make them turn on her, thus pushing her back to our side, but you never know with those soft-hearted fools..." Pein sighed, "No matter. We should at least be able to capture the jinchurikki which is our main objective."

* * *

When Sakura awoke the next morning she found the place beside her empty and cold. As she began to think about the possibilities of where Itachi could be, the door to the room opened showing that Itachi had gone to secure their breakfast.

"Good morning." He stated

"Morning" she mumbled, still in the midst of waking up.

As he set the takeout bag and disposable cups of hot coffee on the desk he began to speak, "I will have to make an errand today in order to gather some information. The scheduled meeting time is for later tonight so we have the day to relax."

"Good. I feel like we haven't had any time to ourselves." She smiled, "Have you already showered?" she asked.

"Yes. Once you are ready we can go explore the town. I walked past a market that seems to have stopped in town for a couple days when I went out to buy food."

"That sounds absolutely perfect." She beamed as she stretched and moved to get out of bed. However, in her rush to get to the bathroom she became tangled in the sheets, instead falling to the floor in a graceless heap. When she looked up at her lover she could see his lips twitching as he attempted to halt any laughter that threatened to escape. Yet, the amusement that shone in his dark eyes could not be disguised. He was clearly laughing at her and had he been any other person, would be laughing outright at the picture she made, constricted by the sheets, pink hair sticking out at every imaginable angle with a fierce blush staining her face.

"You should be more careful. It would be most embarrassing if I had to inform the others that you were injured due to you incapacity to get out of a bed properly." He teased.

"Oh shut up!" she retorted, stomping to the bathroom in a show of her annoyance, an act which was deterred somewhat by her obvious nudity. She didn't take long to shower and get dressed and had already forgotten Itachi's earlier playful teasing in her excitement to go to the market. Both were dressed in civilian apparel so as to not draw too much attention to themselves. Sakura loved the fact that she was finally able to have a moment to feel like a normal girl in love. For now she could forget that she was a kunoichi, that she was betraying her friends and family by helping the Akatsuki, that she was in love with the man who had killed her teammates family and had hurt her allies in the past...for now she was just a woman and Itachi was just a man and they were in love. The fact that he had taken a hold of her hand when they left the hotel had initially shocked her, but she soon felt so happy that she could not control the huge smile that spread across her face. In response to her reaction Itachi simply gave her that gentle smile of his that made her melt.

It didn't take long for them to reach the market located on one of the main streets. The vendors were selling everything from jewelry, to weapons, to food, to fortunes. It was loud and there were a large amount of people, but Sakura loved it. A stand displaying beautiful jewelry immediately caught her eye. In particular she was drawn to a necklace. It was actually a very simplistic design with only a single gemstone hanging from a silver chain, but the color reminded her of Itachi's eyes. It was a dark stone which appeared to be black at first, but if one looked closely they could see that it was actually a midnight blue color which when held up to the sun allowed the light to be refracted within the gemstone. It was easy to see that she wanted it.

"Can I ask for the price of this?" She asked, still observing the stone.

"It is a rare piece and normally would be quite expensive but for you I will make an exception." However, when the vendor told her the price she immediately shook her head. It was ridiculously overpriced. "That's alright. Thank you though." She responded before dragging Itachi away. He took a quick glance back at the stand they had just left before turning his attention to the beautiful woman holding his hand. It wasn't long before something else caught her interest. This time is was a group of children huddling around a wooden tub filled with water attempting to catch goldfish. There was one little boy in particular that held her attention. He appeared to be no more than five years old and looked much like Sasuke had as a child minus the messy hair.

Itachi observed as Sakura's expression changed from one of happiness to one of despair. It was obvious that she was thinking of Sasuke. He wanted to comfort her, tell her that he would bring Sasuke back to his senses, but he couldn't reveal his secret to her, not yet. Instead he opted for squeezing her hand and leading her to a stand selling dango. When Sakura looked up at him in surprise, he attempted to explain,"You looked upset. Perhaps you are hungry?" he asked.

"Oh" she gasped, shaking her head in an attempt to shake off the dark thoughts she was having. "Yes, it has been a while since I last ate." she admitted before attempting to reassure him with a smile.

While Sakura had a feeling that Itachi had understood where her thoughts had been heading and was attempting to distract her, the fact that he took her to a dango stand only made her think of how much Sasuke hated sweet things. It was so strange how different the two brothers were. Sasuke was impulsive, prideful, and prone to narrow-mindedness whereas Itachi was always calm and collected, quite humble at times and seemed to want to avoid conflict as much as possible. More and more she began to question Itachi's motives for killing his clan. The rumor that he had killed them to test his potential didn't make any sense whatsoever if one looked at his personality.

_So why? Why did you do it Itachi? _

* * *

"We should be reaching River Country in a couple of hours." Kakashi reported. "When we get there we will take a short break before continuing on. I want to get to the border of Rain by nightfall so that we can set up camp."

"Right." Naruto confirmed. Kakashi glanced over at the blonde member of their team. He was worried. Hopefully, he would be able to keep his cool. At least Yamato was there in case the nine-tails broke free.

He had a feeling that Sakura would not be in Rain, but unfortunately the only information that they had was for that particular hideout. He knew that there were more bases, but there was sure to be at least one member at the base in Rain. As long as there was one person they would hopefully be able to gather some more information. Sakura had already been with the Akatsuki for a little over four months. God knows what they'd done to her in that time... but she was alive. That they knew and it was that fragile string of hope that they were clinging to.

* * *

The sun had started to set when Itachi turned to her, "I still have to take care of some things while we are here. I'll see you back at the hotel in a couple hours."

"Okay. I'll try to find something for us to eat for dinner." Sakura replied.

As she watched Itachi walk off, she turned in the direction of the hotel, but then darted down an alleyway, making sure to mask her chakra as she did so. She was going to find out what he was hiding from her. She watched as he walked into a seedy bar. Luckily for her the lights in the bar were dim. She blended in quite nicely in her brown traveling cloak, making sure to cover her unique hair. She observed as Itachi sat in a back booth with a large man with dirty blond hair that she had never seen before. She couldn't help but notice that the chakra was somehow familiar. However, she didn't have to wonder for long as the moment the man spoke she knew exactly who it was.

"Jiraiya." she whispered in shock.

"So Itachi, what information do have for me?" the Sannin asked, a wide grin on his disguised face.

* * *

**I know this chapter was super short, but I just felt that I needed to give you guys something. It's kind of a filler chapter but there should be some good action next time. I'll try to update more regularly, but I'm taking 18 credit hours this semester so I can't promise anything. I have a better idea as to where I want this story to go so bear with me.**


End file.
